Joining materials for profitability and functionality Exopack Advanced Coatings recognize that as European governments reduce reimbursement rates for medical products and the market becomes filled with “me-too” products, the pressure to reduce the cost of finished goods increases.

Medical product manufacturers are working harder than ever to reduce production costs. Improved productivity is a key area. Most dressings for professional healthcare and many ostomy products are formed by laminating layers together to make the final product. Heat lamination can be a slow process if the laminates are not chosen wisely.

Exopack Advanced Coatings has tackled this issue by formulating polyurethanes, within the inspire™ portfolio, with lower melt temperatures that bond to other plastic substrates , wound contact layers and hydrophilic foams. These polyurethane materials require less heat to create a bond and therefore the productivity of heat lamination processes can be increased.

Historically polyurethane films have been bonded to other components with pressure sensitive adhesives, inspire™’s new low melt point polyurethane film offers a smooth, bacterial barrier outer surface and also provides the bonding layer without the need for any additional pressure sensitive adhesive.

Removing the need for adhesives can have additional benefits, particularly in wound dressings where they have a tendency to restrict the breathability of the final product which can in turn, reduce the useful lifetime of a dressing.

Where the polyurethane film is used as a backing for a wound dressing it is necessary to have a special breathable pressure sensitive adhesive to adhere the product to the patients skin. Exopack Advanced Coatings has developed combinations of polyurethane film and adhesive to create materials with a MVTR of over 1500g/m2/24hrs. With this level of breathability intact skin will show no signs of wrinkling or maceration even after 7 days.

The inspire™ brand offers a complete range of adhesives coated onto polyurethane film to meet a variety of end user needs – from blister plasters that need strong adhesive qualities , to applications that require a much gentler system. The films can also be coloured and/or printed to create the ideal branding opportunity.

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Updated on February 25th, 2009 by exopack-main