Toray Provides a Cost-Efficient Materials Option for Liquid-Contact Medical Device Manufacturers

Toray Industries Inc., a global leader in polymer chemistry, organic synthetic chemistry, and biotechnology, announces the North America availability of TOYOLAC Transparent ABS Resin for medical applications.
 
Toray was the first and is the world’s largest manufacturer of transparent ABS Resin. With newly expanded production capabilities and customer support including distribution throughout the United States, Toray Industries Inc. is fully prepared to provide TOYOLAC Resin to Medical OEMs for improved product development and manufacturing.
 
Transparent ABS Resin TOYOLAC presents major opportunities for medical design engineers and custom molders to develop better components and final-use products particularly for liquid-contact medical devices. TOYOLAC has become a popular thermoplastic in many countries due its superior injection molding and processability, superior hardness, toughness and resistance properties compared to traditional thermoplastics. The result is that TOYOLAC resin has achieved application success in thousands of medical products worldwide.
 
TOYOLAC resin has robust chemical resistance and is sterilizable but cannot be autoclaved. With well-balanced chemical properties the TOYOLAC ABS resin is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration Drug Master File-registered material. It is USP Class 6 tested and meets ISO 10993 for biocompatibility. Specific tests include -4 for blood interactions, -5 for in-vitro cytoxicity, -10 for irritation and skin sensitization and -11 for systemic cytotoxicity. TOYOLAC has stable quality and promises long-term adoption with no change “Production Methods,” no change “Formulations,” and no change “Test Methods/Equipment,” ensuring long-term stability for manufacturers and regulatory requirements.
 
TOYOLAC is a cost-effective replacement for many medical applications requiring clear plastic. Applications include housings, infusion sets, and other drug and blood contact devices where superior injection molding, processability and high strength properties make TOYOLAC the ideal replacement for clear polycarbonate. Additional TOYOLAC properties include:

• Biocompatible, Bisphenol-A Free, sterilizable
• Superior scratch resistance, structural strength and stiffness
• Robust chemical resistance for lipids, alcohol and cleaning agents
• Excellent high and low temperature performance
• Easy to injection mold, glue and print
• Excellent solvent adhesive properties

 
The TOYOLAC processability presents significant cost-advantages when injection molding due to lower operating temperatures and lower pressure requirements compared to polycarbonate. Using TOYOLAC, processors can achieve faster cycle times with more mold cavitation due to the flowability of the resin at lower temperatures. TOYOLAC operating cylinder temperature ranges from 210 degrees Celsius up to 260 degrees Celsius providing easier resin flow resulting in decreased cycle times. Additionally, lower operating temperature reduces energy costs, decreases wear on tooling, decreases down-time from necessary mold repair resulting in overall increased mold life.
 
Toray Industries Inc. is a global, integrated chemical industry group with businesses in 26 countries and markets worldwide. In 2018, Toray’s sales exceeded $22 billion and employed over 45,000 people worldwide. Toray combines nanotechnology with its core technologies of organic synthetic chemistry, polymer chemistry and biotechnology. These advanced basic materials technologies are applied to develop products in the chemicals, plastics, films, fibers, textiles, composites, pharmaceuticals and medical market segments. Toray’s “Innovation by Chemistry” is applied in the medical market to create unique materials that benefit cutting edge products and provide more effective treatments at lower cost and less risk than current products.