EMS-Grivory has developed a transparent polymer which they say can be sterilised several hundred times.
It has been developed to solve a problem surrounding single-use medical devices that are disposed as hazard waste.
In the medical sector today, a great deal of metal and glass is still used. Both materials can be heavy and expensive to manufacture, while glass also represents a safety risk of breakage in many areas. This development, including scaling-up to industrial size production plants, took two years.
This material could open up the way for replacement of glass and metal in the medical sector. Previous disposable articles can now be sterilised more than 500 times in future and reused, and can allow corresponding health costs to be reduced by more than 90%. The low density of the EMS specialty polymer means part weight can be reduced by up to 80%.
EMS has already received first customer approvals and certification which are necessary for use of these material in the medical sector.
