Advances in Adhesion Solutions for Medical Packaging Applications Rakesh Kumar Specialty Coating Systems, Inc. Email: rkumar@scscoatings.com
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Biography Dr. Rakesh Kumar is currently the Vice President of Technology for Specialty Coating Systems, Inc., where he leads the R&D group and manages Parylene research and development activities worldwide. His prior work experience includes technical and management positions with United Panel, Inc., Lucent Technologies, OptronX, Inc. He has more than 20 years of extensive experience in the development of polymeric materials and their applications in the medical, electronics and semiconductors areas. He is currently involved with the application of Parylene coatings in the field of medical including medical devices, electronics, MEMS, and nanotechnology. Dr. Kumar earned his undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees in Chemistry from Gorakhpur University in India, and completed his post-doctorate work in polymer chemistry at the University College London, U.K. He is co-author of a book and has authored several published papers and patents. Company Profile Specialty Coating Systems (SCS) provides Parylene coating services, equipment and dimer. SCS leads the industry in providing Parylene solutions to advanced technologies. SCS is the direct descendent of the companies that original developed Parylene, and has more than 35 years of experience and expertise to leverage on every project. SCS' worldwide resources include highly experienced professionals working in 9 state-of-the-art coating facilities throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia.
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Abstract Adhesion is an important phenomenon in the industrial world, and its relevance to medical packaging applications is quite significant. Biostable packaging for medical devices and pharmaceutical containers are becoming increasingly challenging due to product long-term performance requirements. In recent years, various thin-film coatings have been utilized for conformal barrier, surface modification, protection enhancement and biostability of medical devices and pharmaceutical containers in an effort to enhance their overall reliability and bioacceptability. However, one aspect of such advancement that is problematic relates to adhesion of such coatings to the surfaces of medical devices and & pharmaceutical containers. It has long been recognized that surface contamination, the presence of oxide layers and low surface energy substrates can lead to poor adhesion and to a reduction in the effectiveness of coatings or adhesives used in these devices and containers. Although development work continues to address various adhesion issues of coatings or adhesives with the exotic metal alloys and high surface energy plastic substrates used in medical devices and pharmaceutical packaging, a significant breakthrough has recently been achieved through the development of advanced adhesion systems. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the existing adhesion problems of medical devices and pharmaceutical packaging and describes the new developments that have led to advanced adhesion solutions particularly suited to thin polymeric coatings. In addition, it highlights some steps that device and pharmaceutical packaging makers can take to minimize or eliminate their initial adhesion failures. These advanced adhesion solutions have been successfully tested according to biological evaluation requirements in ISO10993.
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