Plastic Injection Molding’s Value in Medical Manufacturing

Plastic injection molding is a versatile and highly accessible manufacturing process that provides benefits to many industries from retail manufacturing to pharmaceuticals. While it has been around for a long time—since the late 1800s—it’s relatively new for medical and pharmaceutical development.
 
Within the last decade, the demand for efficient and cost-effective medical devices, components, and parts has grown considerably. Plastic injection molding is an excellent answer to that challenge, as plastic is cheaper than many common materials. With the right molds, scaling manufacturing is easily repeatable to a high degree of accuracy. That’s of critical importance in the medical industry where devices and parts are held to strict standards and regulatory specifications.
 
The technique is useful, there is no question. A more pertinent query is how it is being used in the medical industry, and where is it having the largest impact?

Why Plastic Injection Molding is Ideal for Medical Purposes

Benefits 
In addition to lower costs, there are several benefits of plastic injection molding, and the items it can be used to create. Molds can be created to precise specifications and are reusable, offering a high degree of accuracy for bulk applications. They’re also compatible with several material types in addition to plastic.
 
What’s more, most plastic devices or components created are ultra-durable, highly resistant, and adhere to sterile conditions with high levels of contamination resistance.
 
FDA Regulations and ISO Certification
The FDA prioritizes sterility and cleanliness above all for medical goods, followed closely by a strict adherence to design and functionality standards. ISO certification and compliance is a huge part of that, and the standards help govern all policies and requirements, upholding safety and quality.
 
The controlled nature of injection molding makes it much easier to adhere to and comply with regulatory standards.
 
Materials
Materials used to create medical devices and parts include silicone, polycarbonate, polyethylene, and polypropylene. While they are all plastics, each has distinct properties suitable for various applications. Polycarbonate, for example, is extremely tough, impact-resistant, vibration-resistant, and has additional protective properties—like being resistant to extreme heat or UV.
 
Using Injection Molding for Medical Devices

Here are some of the most common ways manufacturers use plastic injection molding for medical devices:

Enclosures and Cases
Tools, hardware, devices, and medical supplies all need to be cleaned and stored after use. Whether new or old, plastic enclosures can be used to preserve the cleanliness and sterility of those tools and components. Compared to other methods, such as CNC machining or vacuum casting, injection molding is faster, more efficient, and requires fewer raw materials. Moreover, the extreme resistance properties of plastic mean the enclosures and cases can be sterilized and reused offering long-term benefits.

Instruments and Tools
Plastic can be used to create low-cost equipment and tools such as instruments, syringes, and beyond. Some examples include:

• IV tubes
• Catheters
• Insulin pens
• Surgical gloves
• Personal protective equipment (PPE)

 
While many of the devices can be sterilized and reused, the low cost means it’s possible to dispose of them without incurring heavy losses.
 
Disposables
The medical industry also has a great need for low-cost disposable gear. In some instances, it’s not safe to reuse equipment due to health effects, contamination, and bio-hazard concerns. Some examples include plastic syringes, heart valves, blood bags, gloves, bandages, and so on.
 
Plastic injection molding can be used at scale to produce large quantities of these items for a lower cost compared to other processes. Depending on the gear, plastic can also lead to more comfortable conditions for patients. There are also allergen concerns to account for, as some people are allergic to certain metals.
 
Devices and Additives
Using injection molding for medical devices and instruments naturally increases their effectiveness and durability. For example, pulse oximeters used to measure oxygen levels and heart rate are often encased in plastic. A device that might otherwise be easily broken is made infinitely more resilient thanks to the resin material. They’re much easier to sterilize between uses, as well.
 
More notably, polymer additives can be used to enhance the material properties of medical devices. For large equipment, fillers, lubricants, and stabilizers can all be used to improve properties, and create more stable, sterile components. The age-old example is syringes, which had to be sterilized carefully after each use before plastic was used.
 
Implants
Plastic implants often have much greater biocompatibility for patients and see increased longevity thanks to the material’s properties. Hypoallergenic plastics can also replace metals and similar materials that would pose serious health problems.
 
Safety and Storage
While glass is an excellent material for storage applications, it isn’t ideal for transporting or handling sensitive goods—like pharmaceuticals. Placing the supplies in plastic containers is safer and more effective.
 
Injection molding can also be used to develop tamper-resistant caps and durable medical packaging.
 
Greater Customization
Whether it involves implants, unique tools, or personal equipment, injection molds can have incredibly precise dimensions and shapes. In the medical field, this enables greater customization for the items and components.
 
In the past, creating custom molds presented several challenges, as they can be expensive and may take a long time to produce and perfect. Additive manufacturing also makes it easier and less costly to produce custom molds, which are then used to create the items and components.

Plastic Injection Molding for Medical Devices: Innovation, Quality, Durability, and Cost
 
Delving into the benefits and applications of plastic injection molding reveals many positives for the medical and pharmaceutical industries. The produced items and components can adhere to strict FDA and ISO standards. And plastic comes with many properties, not the least of which are high resistance levels and acceptable resilience, sterility, and cleanliness. Plastic also has a high level of biocompatibility.
 
From medical instruments like syringes and tools to personal protective equipment such as masks or gloves, there are many uses for the material. Manufacturing these devices can be low-cost, customized, and efficient thanks to the injection molding process.

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Emily Newton is the Editor-in-Chief of Revolutionized. She’s always excited to learn how the latest industry trends will improve the world. She has over four years of experience covering stories in the science and tech sectors.