By Maureen Aylward
The polymer industry is vast and has wide-reaching application, everything from medical devices to home products. But change is happening in the industry, and we asked our Zintro experts to give us an overview of new innovations, materials that show the most promise, and where we might see these innovations applied.
Joe Bonem, a chemical engineer and consultant, sees the future for polymeric material from a number of perspectives:
- From a product application angle, medical devices and medical uses will become even more important than they are now. “Uses might include body parts, wound closures or surgical instruments,” says Bonem. “This will require polymers that will meet exact specifications that will be qualitative in end users language rather than in terms of typical ASTM polymer test procedures.”
- From a cost standpoint, the area of polymers production that still has a high cost component is the post-polymerization area. “Many producers are using the extrusion section to tailor polymers by changing the molecular weight distribution, removing volatiles, or putting the polymer into a denser state. This is usually at the cost of one to two cents per pound,” says Bonem.
- From a growth angle, scale-up will become more important. “As higher value products are produced in small bench scale batch equipment, the need for an exact scale up to larger continuous equipment will be important,” says Bonem. “An example of this might be a polymer used for wound closure that is produced in a one liter batch reactor. It might be desirable to scale this product up to an 100 gallon reactor and operate in a continuous mode.”
Polymer Expert, a polymer scientist, says that the last 10 years has seen an increased focus on designing polymeric materials that mimic natural tissue. “Hydrogels, or multi-phase hydrophilic constructs, represent a promising material class for permanent natural tissue replacement” says Polymer Expert. “Comprised of between 50 to 90 percent water and capable of being formulated with non-isotropic properties, hydrogels find use in soft-tissue bulking and are being considered for load-bearing applications in the hip, knee, shoulder, and spine.” Polymer Expert says that the native tissue these constructs would replace are themselves hydrogels (cartilage, nucleus pulposus, vitrious humour); hence, synthetic hydrogels offer a good opportunity to match the viscoelastic properties of these natural tissues along with their lubricious nature.
Maurice Collins, a research fellow at the Stokes Institute, University of Limerick, Ireland, says the latest innovations in the polymer industry center around new, smart polymers that can be easily and cheaply processed. “Two of the most exciting areas include organic electronics and regenerative medicine,” says Collins. He explains that in organic electronics, the research focus is on the structure/property relationships of thin polymeric films and the control of the interfacial properties to achieve high efficiencies, lower operating voltages, and longer device lifetimes. In regenerative medicine, research is concentrating on the creation of stimuli responsive polymer-based scaffolds with controlled biodegradation behavior coupled with the ability to deliver drug systems. “Advanced cross-linking strategies are being employed to control mechanical and degradation properties of these materials. The use of these materials will reduce the future demand on organ donors,” says Collins.
Conjugated polymers show the most promise for organic electronics. “Current research is looking at how these polymers can replace silicon semiconductors in the making of solar cells. This would lead to a reduction in the cost of solar energy,” Collins points out. “The materials showing the most promise for regenerative medicine are natural polymers and hydrogels produced from natural polymers such as Hyaluronic acid and Collagen. They are both biodegradable and biocompatible and contain functional groups that allow for structure/property tailoring. And, they are bioactive and can interact with cells and growth factors.”
Collins says that the first products using organic electronics have already been introduced: organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). Cell phones and personal digital assistants are beginning to incorporate OLED displays, and within the next couple of years flexible OLED displays may be incorporated into laptop computers and home video applications. In addition, thin film transistors provide a range of low cost electronics.
“The outlook for regenerative technologies is bright, and they have the potential to revolutionize the delivery of medical care. Polymeric materials play a fundamental part in this,” says Collins. “Potential products range from scaffolds for soft and hard tissue replacement and wound healing to blood vessels made entirely from natural polymers. In the future, polymeric materials that can self repair will be key in ensuring the longevity of implants. Such materials may eventually replace the more traditional choices, such as ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE).”
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