PEBAX^® 5533D Formulation for Enhancement of Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Material Used in Medical Device Manufacturing

The medical device industry is constantly innovating in the search for materials that demonstrate superior performance, better intrinsic characteristics, profitability, and a positive impact on potential patients. The thermoplastic polymer resin Pebax^® 5533D is one of the most widely used commercial materials for manufacturing medical device parts due to its easy processability. However, its mechanical and thermal properties require improvements to mitigate identified manufacturing defects, such as a decrease in material flexibility, high susceptibility to moisture, and thermal degradation during processing. Therefore, this study integrated different materials, such as plasticizers and filler additives, to produce a polymer compound prototype formula as a solution technique to enhance the current material’s performance. Modifying mechanical and rheological properties allows to evaluate the impacts on the polymeric material’s flexibility and thermal behavior. This was achieved by processing mixed additives using injector-molding equipment to obtain equal-molded samples of every formula. In addition, material characterization was performed to determine the variations in the samples’ crystallization, flexural strength, and moisture content. Calcium stearate was determined to be the most significant component serving as a mechanical resistance modifier and thermal stabilizer alongside calcium chloride as a moisture content reducer combined with Pebax^® 5533D.