Medical Design Briefs - May 2021 - 10

Bioplastics
because of the stringent evaluations
and the consensus required by a consortium of industry experts. This
process is necessary to create universal
standards to meet the needs of manufacturers and their labs. Currently, standards are in development to address a
range of biopolymer properties across
many medical and consumer product
applications.
In the meantime, many typical plastics standards like ASTM D638 or ISO
527 for tensile properties have updated
their verbiage to broaden the scope to
in clude bioplastics and 3D printed
plastics. The testing requirements for
these standards are well known, and by
using them for evaluation, researchers
get a clear correlation in material
properties between petroleum and biologically based plastics. To fully characterize a material, depending on the
end use, a researcher may need to perform tensile, compression, flexure, torsion, and a myriad of other test types.
R&D facilities need the tools at their
disposal to comprehensively analyze
these materials to eventually replace
traditional plastics and clear the regu-

latory hurdles that FDA and other
international organizations will create.
Universal testing systems can offer a
flexible solution to meet the challenges
of this new frontier.
Can the use of bioplastics completely
eliminate these two crises facing the
healthcare industry today? On its own,
no, but the gradual replacement of traditional plastics coupled with more robust waste management programs and
the introduction of forward-thinking
environmental policy in the healthcare
industry can significantly reduce the
negative impact made by plastic waste
in the last 50 years. The data has shown
the sizeable effect disposable products
can have on reducing HAIs. The development of biodegradable and compostable plastics addresses the other
side of the issue.
As these materials become more
advanced and are adapted to new applications, material testing will serve as a
proving ground, both evaluating physical properties and even discovering
potential uses previously unknown. Scientists will need to be equipped with the
tools necessary to assess and validate

these products, requiring experienced
equipment suppliers ready to face these
technical issues head on. Looking at the
larger picture, the biomedical industry
represents only a fraction of the potential for these polymers, but early adoption will allow it to be at the forefront of
a paradigm shift in not only the plastics
industry, but the entire global emphasis
on sustainability.
References
1. Haque, M., Sartelli, M., McKimm, J., & Abu
Bakar, M. (2018). Health Care-Associated
Infections - An Overview. Infection and Drug
Resistance, 11, 2321-2333.
2. (2011). Report on the Burden of Endemic
Healthcare-associated Infections Worldwide. Geneva: World Health Organization.
3. World Health Organization. (2018).
Healthcare Waste Fact Sheet. Retrieved
from https://www.who.int/en/newsroom/fact-sheets/detail/health-care-waste.
4. DeStefano, V., Khan, S., & Tabada, A.
(2020). Applications of PLA in Modern
Medicine. Engineered Regeneration, 76-87.
5. UrthPact. (2018, March 29). The Basics of
BioPlastics. Retrieved from https://www.
urthpact.com/bioplastics-basics/.

This article was written by Landon
Goldfarb, Senior Applications Engineer,
Instron, Norwood, MA. For more information,
visit http://info.hotims.com/79413-340.

COMSOL Days

See what is possible
with multiphysics simulation.
Join fellow engineers and simulation specialists online
to learn how COMSOL Multiphysics® is used in all types
of engineering applications.
register now comsol.com/comsol-days
topics include
*
*
*
*

Acoustics
AC/DC
Biomedical Devices
Government R&D

*
*
*
*

Heat Transfer in Material Processing
Optics and Photonics
Semiconductor Technology
And more!

Free Info at http://info.hotims.com/79413-786

Cov

ToC

Medical Design Briefs, May 2021

https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/health-care-waste https://www.urthpact.com/bioplastics-basics/ http://info.hotims.com/79413-340 http://info.hotims.com/79413-786

Medical Design Briefs - May 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Medical Design Briefs - May 2021