Medical Injection Molding - Tooling

The medical injection molding process is now the go-to procedure for manufacturing state-of-the-art medical equipment because it offers countless advantages not to mention multi-cavity Aluminum Tooling makes the creation of medical equipment highly cost-effective offsetting the higher cost of many medical grade resins.

For instance, thermoplastic used for medical molding also features different advantages and qualities you will want to review before selecting a material for your injection molding application. Just a few examples:

Polypropylene (PP): This is one of the most used plastics in the industry, thanks to its ruggedness and durability. Polypropylene contains strong chemical bonds that make it a better material for manufacturing medical devices like beakers and test tubes.

Polycarbonate: naturally transparent and commonly used for medical tubing, this medical-grade plastic features high tensile, shear, and flexural strength. It also provides high heat resistance, and low moisture absorption, and is stronger than acrylic.

PEEK: an exotic medical-grade plastic resin that is highly resistant to chemicals, resists cracking and fatigue, and can be sterilized via autoclave. It is FDA-approved for food contact and has a UL 94 V-0 flammability rating.

Ultem™: used for medical devices and be sterilized via autoclave. It resists environmental stress and cracking, provides excellent dimensional stability, and exhibits superior strength and stiffness.

We also work with specialized medical-grade plastics with built-in resins and fillers or custom color compounds. This provides the application with certain mechanical advantages or other unique properties.

The medical plastic injection molding process is ideal for high-volume production runs and applications requiring consistency and tight tolerances. With the level of results of the Aluminum Tooling and Injection Molding process, it’s no surprise that it serves as the medical prototype development community’s affordable advances.

Since medical device plastics provide increased versatility and can be combined with metal or over-molded to create enhanced medical product attributes, medical-grade plastics have become the preferred material for numerous types of electronic medical devices. Some of the benefits include improved ergonomics, reduced weight, increased functionality, and lower cost to name a few of the benefits of using Aluminum Tooling and Injection Molding for medical devices.

As mentioned above, the injection molding procedure offers the widest range of options for choosing materials. Although medical injection molding narrows the scope of injection molding materials, there are still many materials that are suitable for manufacturing medical-grade components. The materials utilized in this production process easily withstand the invasion of contaminants. Also, they don’t need much sterilization to stay germ-free. Because of this factor, the material easily meets the FDA standards and other stipulated requirements.

Phoenix Proto cannot stress enough that the medical plastic injection tooling and molding cuts unnecessary injection molding costs through massive production deliveries and high-volume manufacturing help to maximize the process. Whenever there is an extraordinary volume of medical injection parts being produced, the injection molding process can reduce the cost per part.

A known fact about plastics used in injection molding is that it is ruggedly durable. These materials provide resilient strength and resistance to adverse environments and usage. Therefore, the products of this process can comfortably withstand heat, blunt force, and vibration without any incidence of cracks or breakages. Also, when they undergo sterilization in autoclaves, they don’t cave to the heat. Healthcare professionals need and rely on their tools so durability and strength in the medical devices they use is the difference between a successful procedure and failure.

In the process of plastic injection for the medical device industry, exceptional accuracy is a must. Due to the tight tolerance margin, every inch, millimeter, or centimeter count can influence the whole molding development. Besides, it is essential to use skilled injection molding facilities to achieve this high-level accuracy. This is why the Phoenix Proto team not only does a design review with your team for callouts and best design practices to help ensure your project is successful but our team also does daily design reviews for our team to ensure each and every project is not only successful but delights our customers.