Applications of Polymers and Plastics in Medical Devices: Design, Manufacture, and Performance

Applications of Polymers and Plastics in Medical Devices: Design, Manufacture, and Performance is a comprehensive guide to plastic materials for medical devices, covering fundamentals, materials, applications, and regulatory requirements.

The book begins by introducing the role of plastics in medical devices, socio-economic factors, and classification of medical devices. The next section focuses on materials selection for the construction of devices and presents detailed coverage of properties, characteristics, performance, medical grades, and suppliers, of polymer materials, which are categorized by performance level. Manufacturing processes for device components are explained, including extrusion, casting, injection molding, and assembly processes. The book then covers applications in detail, examining each device and the role that polymers and plastics play in its construction and function. The final part of the book brings together comprehensive information on the role of regulatory requirements and other key factors, such as quality control, re-processing of re-usable medical devices, and future directions of medical devices.

This is an essential resource for engineers, R&D, and other professionals working on plastics for medical devices, across the plastics industry, medical device manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, packaging, and biotechnology. In an academic setting, this book is of interest to researchers and advanced students in medical plastics, plastics engineering, polymer science, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, and materials science.