Expansion of polyurethane foam for medical application
Our client needed a quick and efficient way to expanse polyurethane foam, intended for the manufacturing of hemostatic cushions. Discover how SAIREM’s solution fully meet their needs !
The company
Our client is a British global company operating in the medical field. They are employing more than 15 000 people around the planet. This company provides material for medical products in various specific markets: surgery, gynecology, arthroscopy, traumatology…
Their plants are already equiped with multiple machines for the manufacturing of their products, including a hot air tunnel to expanse polyurethane medical foam intended for the manufacturing of hemostatic cushions.
Customer request
Polyurethane foams are mainly known for their thermal insulation properties but this type of foams also has a high absorbency which is very useful for the medical equipment market. As a polymer with big expansion and absorbion properties, polyurethane foam is used in the medical market as a good solution to absorb blood and other liquids. Heating the rigid foam produces a chemical reaction : it starts to expand and becomes more flexible.
The polyurethane foam produced by the company is cut into hemostatic patches which are used for different applications in hospitals. The company was having issues with the expansion of the medical foam. In fact, the foam didn’t fully expanse with their current hot air tunnel solution and the process took some time.
They were looking for a solution which will fully expanse the polyurethane foam, but which would also be quicker. Microwave and Radio-Frequency technologies appears to be a great solution for them to improve the quality of the foam thanks to their thermal properties and their abilitie to reach high temperature quickly and heat the polyurethane foam uniformly.
Solution proposed
SAIREM offered a solution based on radio-frequency to replace the hot air tunnel. By using the volumetric heating properties of RF, the entire volume of the polyurethane foam is simultaneously and instantaneously heated in order to cause its expansion.
This tunnel is delivers 100kW of RF heating power. A hot air system at 100°C as also been added to guarantee that the foam will fully expanse on the surface. This tunnel heats up the product to ± 80°C in a 10 minutes process and is the quickest and most efficient way to expanse polyurethane foam.
Key benefits
- Speed: our equipment saves time and money for the company.
- Quality: the products quality has been enhanced thanks to RF technology that fully expanse the foam.
- Homogeneity: homogeneous expansion of the polyurethane foam is possible with SAIREM’s RF equipment.
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