What issues are driving development? What can we expect? In the following 3 minutes of reading time, you will gain an up-to-date insight into aspects that will help you to master future challenges in medical technology more successfully. The headlines: The future of plastics processing is the circular economy: how recyclates are also changing medical technology Frying fat for defibrillators? Still a dream of the future ... Not a dream of the future: bio-based long fiber thermoplastics (LFT) Revolutionary PEEK: color variety and thermal conductivity for advanced medical technology!

In plastics processing, compounding technology is the central process that specifically modifies the properties of base materials/polymers in order to meet specific application requirements. It is the harmonious, precisely coordinated interplay of chemistry and physics that plays a key role in this process. By combining chemical reactions with physical principles, innovative materials with tailor-made properties are created. This blog post is about what is important in this process and why everything ultimately revolves around the extruder and its screws.

For material developers, the art of compounding electrically conductive compounds consists of integrating various conductive fillers and reinforcing materials into a polymer matrix. For a compound that meets even the most detailed requirements for other structural properties - be it mechanical strength, stiffness or toughness, for example. And we do this consistently over the long term - batch after batch. Like all arts, this is not something that can be mastered "just like that". But a great deal can be achieved within several decades ...

All bespoke tailoring is based on precise measurements taken in advance. Only if the tailor knows the individual measurements/dimensions and wishes in advance can his art fully unfold. This applies to the tailoring of plastic compounds just as much as it does to fashion. Instead of twine and yarn, everything revolves around polymers, reinforcing materials and additives as well as compounding (including processing) to make semi-finished plastic products more efficient. At the very beginning, the most precise possible knowledge of the manufacturing process itself is required. After all, it is not just the material itself that makes the semi-finished product more efficient - the process is also decisive. The material "only" has to be optimally suited to the respective process. For the really good compounder, this means in short: first understand, then compound! And this is exactly what we have given free rein to our thoughts on ...

To put it briefly: No matter what you manufacture, in what quantity and within what time and cost frame it has to be ready for presentation or series production, and no matter how demanding the subsequent load on the component may be - what counts in the end is whether the plastic component works and, above all, pays off. And whether this is achieved by injection molding or 3D printing or even extrusion is - at least from our point of view - of secondary importance. Why we see it that way, why this is advantageous for you, and how we can easily turn the or into an and - that's what you'll find out in the next four minutes of reading time here:

Since mid-January of this year, the call for a ban on perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) has been the talk of the town, and not just throughout the industry. And as befits our times, the news, questions, prophecies and prophecies of doom have been pouring in. Time for us to name the facts, to take stock of the situation and to illuminate future scenarios.

Highly stressed plastic parts can be found in a wide variety of applications. From medical technology to the energy industry to the automotive industry. In surgery in the form of breast spreaders and in the field of diagnostics in the form of endoscopic handles; in wind turbines in ball bearing cages and in cars in brake boosters or exhaust gas recirculation valves. As different as the demands may be – they all have an extremely high requirement profile in common. Characterized by high temperatures, mechanical/dynamic loads, the highest demands on strength, impact strength and/or rigidity. How do plastic parts ensure this? How technical plastics or high-performance plastics help to keep people healthy or technical systems running day and night or enable them to perform at their best? You can find the answers here.

The topic of high-performance compounds consists of far more than PEEK and Co. Every designer who is looking for new ways to replace metal, for example - whether for reasons of weight or corrosion - must be aware that, as an innovative pioneer, he is embarking on "winding paths full of stumbling blocks". This article is intended to show what needs to be taken into account to ensure that development projects with high-performance compounds are successful.