The medical community continues to focus on increasing patient comfort and care; the medical device industry places the same emphasis on creating quality products designed with patients’ needs in mind.
To assist tape converters and medical-device manufacturers in meeting these high-quality standards, MACtac®Medical Products recently developed SilkTMultimate adhesive systems, which offer three levels of adhesion - Soft Touch, General Purpose and Extra Strength- to provide customers with a range of adhesion levels, from those suitable for short-term wear and sensitive skin applications to demanding, long-term-wear applications.
Silk adhesives offer excellent skin adhesion, but remove cleanly and gently from skin without leaving residue or causing skin trauma. With superior adhesion to low-surface-energy substrates, such as SMS and cellulose-based nonwovens, and PE, EVA, and elastic films, the adhesives deliver high shear strength without sacrificing initial tack and peel.
“With MACtac Medical Products’ new Silk adhesives, we’re able to tailor the adhesive properties to meet customers’ specifications for device-assembly requirements,” said Aaron Smith, Technical Marketing manager, MACtac Medical Products. “This offers our customers versatility, enabling them to design devices that can be bonded to the skin for as long as the application requires without sacrificing the patient’s need for comfort.”
While each level of adhesive strength offers customers the flexibility to specify the adhesive qualities necessary for their specific application, typical applications at each level of adhesion are as follows: pediatric ECG and ophthalmic drape applications for Soft Touch adhesives; ostomy mount and defibrillation, IV-securement, TENS-electrodes, and electrosurgical-grounding-pad applications for General-Purpose adhesives; and stress-electrode, wound-closure and surgical-drape applications for Extra-Strength adhesives.
MACtac Medical Products identified a need for higher-strength medical adhesives based on trends in the medical-device industry requiring medical devices to adhere to skin for longer periods of time while withstanding harsher elements, such as showering, exercising, and excessive movement. The new Silk adhesives offer customers the flexibility to choose the adhesive strength, quick tack, peel strength from skin, shear strength and removability necessary for their needs. They also benefit from the cost effectiveness of the new adhesive systems, especially in light of cost increases across the industry for most raw materials.
All Silk adhesives are suitable for sustained skin contact with third-party biocompatibility documentation, and are stable after EtO or gamma sterilization.
About the Company
MACtac is a leading global supplier of pressure-sensitive adhesives. Founded on personal service, technical support, quality assurance, custom capabilities and supply chain efficiency, MACtac is dedicated to providing superior quality to its customers. Headquartered in Stow, OH, MACtac is a subsidiary of the Bemis Co. Inc., the largest flexible packaging supplier in North America.For more information, phone (800) 328-2619, e-mail MACtac.Americas@bemis.com or visit www.MACtac.com.
