New LED UV adhesive evaluation kit for medical device assembly

To assist medical device manufacturers in evaluating whether LED UV curing adhesives suit their design and assembly process, adhesives specialist Intertronics has released a new UV adhesives evaluation kit for medical devices. The IUV101 Medical Kit comprises three different adhesives, suitable for various medical device bonding applications, and a handheld LED UV spot curing lamp. The kit allows manufacturers to investigate and test UV curing materials and technology before investing in a large-scale production process.

The kit contains everything a manufacturer requires to start working with UV curing technology for medical device bonding, including three widely used adhesives in 10ml syringes, together with the IUV101 handheld LED UV curing spot lamp. This device has a powerful 2,000mW/cm2 light intensity, which users can focus on the precise spot where cure is needed. The kit also contains wipes, dispensing needles, PPE, and some practical guides to best practices when employing a process. With everything required to get going included, the kit is inexpensive for manufacturers that have yet to try UV light-curing adhesives to get started.

The first material, Dymax 215-CTH-SV01-UR-SC, is generally used for plastic bonding, such as in catheter assembly. It includes Encompass technology, meaning the material is red fluorescing and turns from blue to colourless upon cure, which helps make inspection processes easier. The material bonds well to medical plastics, including ABS, PA, PC, PCTG, PEBA, PEI, PET, PETG, PI, PMMA, PS, PSU, PU, PVC, SAN, TPU, and AL.

The second material, Dymax 1405-M-T-UR-SC, is appropriate for metal-to-glass bonding and metal-to-plastic assembly and is generally used in needle bonding. Also formulated with Encompass technology, the material can be cured at long-wave UV and 405nm visible light. It bonds to various medical plastics, including ABS, PC, PCTG, PEI, PETG, PMMA, PS, PSU, PU, PVC, SAN, TPU, and SS.

The third material, Dymax 1181-M, is often used as a medical device adhesive and coating, such as during the assembly of medical electronics – the material bonds to PC, CAP, PVC, PS, PETG, and ABS.

“UV curable adhesives are growing in popularity due to their process and productivity benefits,” said Ben Swanson, chief commercial officer at Intertronics. “These materials cure in seconds “on demand” on exposure to the correct wavelength of UV light, speeding up the process compared with other adhesive chemistries. In addition, UV-curing adhesives require no special application equipment, are single parts, and are available in a range of viscosities. Furthermore, they lend themselves well to an automated process, as dispensing and curing are readily controlled and repeatable.

“However, medical device manufacturers first need to establish that the process will be reliable, repeatable, and validatable before reaping the benefits of this adhesive technology,” continued Swanson. “To help, we specially selected the three adhesives for the kit to be suitable candidates for about 80% to 90% of potential applications. Using these test materials, manufacturers can do their process development and establish whether a UV curing material might work for them.”