Thermoplastic Elastomer Tubing - TPE in the Marketplace
Medical device manufacturers strive to provide the latest materials and components to fill ever-growing needs and demands of the customers, markets, and communities they serve. To meet the industry's demands, Kent Elastomer Products, Inc. has evolved from the world's leading producer of dipped natural rubber latex tubing to include a full line of specialty-engineered thermoplastics (TPE's).
The rapid growth of thermoplastics in the medical market reflects the suitability and need of these materials to meet the ongoing requests from today's healthcare industry. Thermoplastic Elastomers offer a wide range of choices, providing specific properties, and functional benefits for new and existing applications. New applications have the benefit of choosing from TPE's that are already proven to be safe, reliable, and cost effective in many existing applications.
The trend away from natural latex and PVC has led to a significant increase in the need for TPE's in the medical marketplace. TPE's are often used for medical applications requiring a PVC-free or latex-free alternative. Custom TPE compounds have been developed to address the need for products that do not contain latex proteins (which may cause allergic reactions), and products that do not contain plasticized PVC; which many healthcare companies have targeted to be replaced. In addition, TPE's offer many other advantages such as FDA compliance, ease of sterilization, low coefficient of friction, low opacity, and excellent translucency. Soft durometer TPE's offer very low levels of extractables and are cost effective as an alternative to silicone. TPE's have proven their performance in many medical applications such as drainage tubing, tourniquets, peristaltic pump tubing, and catheter tubing. This list of applications grow daily as more and more leading medical device manufacturers are turning to TPE's for a high quality, cost effective solution for their customers.