RTP Company develops plastics technology resistant to disinfectants

RTP Company has developed a proprietary alloy technology designed to maintain strength, functionality, and integrity, even with repeated exposure to hospital cleaners used to disinfect plastic medical devices.

Known as the ‘RTP 2000 HC series’, the new thermoplastic compounds can reportedly help solve cracking issues in existing devices and open “a new realm of possibilities” for the design of hospital equipment and plastic housings that require frequent disinfection, such as mobile ultrasound and x-ray machines, enteral feeding devices, drug infusion pumps, blood filtration equipment, and more.

RTP says the series provides a “unique solution” to the widespread problem of the damage to, and consequent premature, catastrophic failure of, plastic devices, equipment, and housings caused by harsh cleaners and disinfectants used in medical settings.

In developing the RTP 2000 HC series, engineers from RTP Company tested numerous polymers for damage resistance to six popular chemical classes of hospital cleaners and disinfectants.

Moulded compounds were subjected to stressors in order to replicate field failures and relative resistance. The best performer was optimised for physical properties, chemical damage resistance, colourability and flammability.

The RTP 2000 HC series is available globally in flame retardant or non-flame retardant versions, and the compounds are colourable. It is also available in sheet format in thicknesses ranging from 0.02-0.25” (0.508-0.635mm) through Engineered Sheet Products (ESP), a division of RTP Company.

RPCS says OEMs and injection moulding companies that create parts, housings, and equipment for medical facilities can use the RTP 2000 HC series thermoplastic compounds as a direct replacement for other amorphous resins such as PC/ABS and PC/PBT.

It says the series has “proven performance for superior chemical resistance under moulded in-stress conditions, allowing OEMs and injection moulders to improve the quality and service life of their medical devices.”