Any medical device's first concern is its safety. In today's medical technology environment, a variety of specialty materials are used. To be suitable for the intended end use, several of these materials require specialized surface treatments. These treatments can lower friction, improve tactile qualities, add chemical functionalities, and increase the material's media resistance.
Alfa Chemistry is a well-known manufacturer of medical surface coatings. To change the surface qualities of medical components, we design bespoke, application-specific coating solutions. Our goal is to apply these surface coating technologies to design and incorporate them into your manufacturing process.
The Function and Application of Medical Coating
The surface coating is intended to make the surface of medical devices more functional, and it can be used in a variety of medical applications. They can offer a variety of benefits, including improved electrical stimulation or sensing, biocompatibility, abrasion resistance, and radiopacity, among others. As a result, the market for surface coating is expanding.
For the cardiovascular and orthopedic markets, medical device manufacturers are particularly interested in hydrophilic, antibacterial, and drug-eluting coatings. Specialized coatings are required by advances in medical technology, such as imaging equipment, ultrasound and other sensor-based tools, and drug delivery systems.
Thin film coatings that improve electrical properties, for example, are becoming more common in pacemakers and neuromodulation devices. This coating can increase the effective charge exchange with the tissue, allowing the gadget to charge faster and last longer.
Here's where you'll find a variety of coatings for medical and biological applications:
Lubricant Coating
This coating is applied to equipment that need extra help inserting other devices or biological holes. Lubricants, in essence, can minimize static and dynamic friction by reducing the contact between two surfaces. Lubricants must meet particular biocompatibility and blood compatibility standards since they are used to place inorganic objects into the patient's body.
Antibacterial Coating
Antibacterial coatings are essential on many medical equipment because they come into touch with delicate human fluids, preventing the introduction of foreign microorganisms into the body environment. Antibacterial coatings usually feature a release mechanism when exposed to bodily fluids in order to provide such microbial resistance.
- Used for implants such as stents and dental implants
- Used for medical devices and equipment
- Used for medical covering materials and wound dressings
Fig 1. Schematic illustration of polymethyl methacrylate/chitosan-silver (PMMA/AgNPs-CS) coating and its antibacterial activity. (Nathanael A. J, et al. 2020)
Hydrophilic Coating
In order to interact correctly with bodily fluids and tissues, some medical devices, such as catheters, require greater wettability. The hydrophilic surface coating aids in the grafting of water to the polymer, making the polymer device fluid sensitive. Before being utilized on patients, hydrophilic surface coatings must pass biocompatibility tests. Depending on the needed qualities of different materials, hydrophilic surface coatings might be permanent or temporary.
How We Solve Your Electronic Surface Problem
Alfa Chemistry's surface coating technology can be employed in a wide range of medical surfaces and applications, offering unique performance, process simplification, and greater value. We can assist you improve the wettability, lubricity, water and oil resistance, and other properties of medical surfaces. Our solutions include:
- Filter coating technology: Alfa Chemistry's different surface treatment technologies can dramatically alter the behavior of filters, allowing them to operate better.
- Microfluidic coating technology: Alfa Chemistry can use liquid repelling and/or attracting surface treatments to generate highly patterned microfluidic surfaces and devices.
- Blood/medical fluid coatings: Alfa Chemistry's surface becomes functionalized when exposed to blood or other bodily fluids/medicinal fluids, resulting in a substantial change in behavior.
- Membrane coating technology: Alfa Chemistry uses a variety of surface functional technologies to change the behavior of membranes and improve performance.
- Lubricating (hydrophilic) coating: Alfa Chemistry improves the lubricity of hydrophilic surface coatings by functionalizing catheters, guide wires, and other minimally invasive devices.
Reference
- Nathanael A. J, et al. (2020). "Biopolymer Coatings for Biomedical Applications." Polymers. 12: 3061.
