Medical Grade Adhesives

Medical devices present manufacturers with a special challenge: as well as being health-compatible, the materials used must allow high-precision production and permanent joining and must withstand various sterilization methods. This especially applies to the adhesives used for assembly.

Medical grade adhesive can be used to bond medical products, such as syringes, dialysis filters, blood bags and tube connections. These medical products are usually made from a range of synthetic materials, including plastics that are hard to bond, such as PEEK, PE and PP. Common plastics such as PVC and ABS, on the other hand, are well suited to bonding.

Disposable medical products are often produced in large quantities. In addition to their mechanical bond strength, rapid curing of the adhesives used is important to allow high volume production. For transparent and UV-permeable materials, UV-curing medical grade adhesive can be used. For UV-impermeable substrates we recommend LED curing. For visual quality inspection, fluorescent versions of medical grade adhesives are also available. One such product Vitralit® UV 4802 has been developed by German adhesives manufacturer Panacol Gmbh and is available to UK businesses via Eurobond Adhesives.

For reusable medical products, durability and the ability to withstand frequent sterilization play a vital role. Cured acrylate adhesives have a high resistance to sterilization by autoclaving, gamma radiation and ETO. These methods have no measurable negative impact on Panacol’s medical grade adhesives. Electron-beam sterilization has even been shown to improve the adhesion of some medical grade adhesives of the Vitralit® series. This is due to an increase in the degree of polymerization of these products.

Vitralit® UV 4802 is a one-component acrylic system that cures very fast when exposed to light. It features excellent adhesion to many plastics such as PEEK, PEN and TPU that are typically hard to bond with conventional adhesives. This adhesive also adheres very well to ceramics and glass and is highly resistant to heat: tests have shown that the adhesive keeps its soft and flexible characteristics even after being exposed to temperatures of 150°C for seven days. Because of its high flexibility the adhesive is perfectly suited for bonding thin and bendable PEEK plastic materials.

Vitralit® UV 4802 is pink in colour and cures within seconds under a UV or visible light source. Both high pressure gas discharge lamps and LED curing systems like the LED SPOT 100 from Dr Hoenle AG are suitable for curing the adhesive. Once cured, the adhesive fluoresces which enables inspection of the bond line under black light. Eurobond Adhesives have been distribution partner for Panacol adhesives for over 35 years and are also the distributor for Hoenle, one of the world’s leading UV light curing systems manufacturers.

For more information on this product or any of our high performance adhesives and equipment speak to our technical team on 01789 773232 or email sales@eurobond-adhesives.co.uk.