Why Medical Devices Should Be Coated with Composites

Everyone used to hate those scratchy, cellophane-like sleeves that went over the length of thermometers at the doctor's office when they took your temperature, right?  Those plastic bag-like covers were the best defense -- working even better than rubbing alcohol -- at keeping thermometers germ-free. That is, until they developed smoother, fitted, rubber-like polyethylene (a composite material!) covers.  Now, the composite covers keep germs from collecting on the thermometer's surface, leaving fewer germs to be removed in the first place.  After all, an "ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Globe Composite Solutions prides itself on its responsiveness to customers, its passion to innovate and willingness to prototype new designs and applications.  Even before a customer or potential client notices the need for improvement in a certain part, whether old or new, Globe responds with cost-effective and unique design approaches every time.  Outlined below is one such case where Globe designers and engineers took a client's critique and turned it into a better, longer lasting part.

America's Next Top Model (ANTM) -- the popular modeling contest pitting amateur models against each other for a professional modeling contract -- now in its 20th season, has turned to the composite's industry to make the runway evermore death defying.

Last week's newsletter from TradePublications.com included a white paper from Epicor titled, Four Quick Ways to Unlock Hidden Manufacturing Capacity.  The paper went on to break down those four ways as:

(Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Start Loving Non-Metallic Materials)

• What is a composite anyway? 
• Are composite impellers the same as plastic?

Much to my dismay, the forum posters almost invariably concluded that composite parts were pretty much the same as plastic -- if not in composition, at least in performance.  Oh no! I thought and tried to post to the forums myself, but alas they were not allowing anymore comments. Hence, this month's blog is on why composite parts are so much better than plastic.

Here at Globe, we say "we do it all"  ... and we do.  But, what does that mean for our clients and customers?  It means from project planning and management, to composite design and prototyping, to fabrication and production, we can design and engineer your project from beginning to end -- from plans and drawings to the finished product. 

Did you know?

Globe Composite Solutions is a full-service design, prototyping and manufacturing company.  That means almost all of our unique tooling and molding processes are done under one roof -- significantly reducing the time from concept to production. 

The Society of Plastics Engineers published a comprehensive article on the use of anti-microbial composite plastics in hospital applications, in their "Plastics Engineering" magazine. Likewise, Globe Composite Solutions has developed a family of high-strength, injection-moldable reinforced thermoplastic materials, Brandonite 9012, for medical and food service use.  The first use of Brandonite^® 9012 was to create structural components used in food service conveyance.