Choose the Right Material for Designing a Medical Device

Choose the Right Material for Designing a Medical Device
By Rajesh B Sanghvi
Are you planning to design a medical device? Well, it is not that easy as one might think it to be. The most important aspect of medical device designing is the choice of material. One has to take a very wise decision while choosing the material as it can have a major aftermath during and after the production phase of the device.
Generally, materials like plastic, elastomers, and metals are available in abundance, which guarantees supreme quality and efficiency, along with safety at an affordable price. Apart from safety and availability issues, one might also check whether the material provides the designer the freedom to design and explore so that it can provide quick and affordable remedies to patients and users. This factor, in turn, attracts more and more customers to use the medical device.
Given these criteria, it sometimes becomes a very daunting task for the designer to choose the most appropriate material. Listed below are some of the points, which must be kept in mind while making a decision about the material of the medical device.
Availability: Make sure the material, which you are selecting, is available in abundance both for the present as well as future use that too from a reliable source. Otherwise, the sales and marketing potential of the device get heavily impacted due to the scarcity of the material.
Flexible to design: Since designing a medical device is all about innovation, thus the material chosen should be such that it can provide complete support to the designer. For example, plastics can be molded into different form and shapes making it easier to work with.
Cost per unit: When it comes to manufacturing a large number of medical devices the cost per unit also becomes an important criterion, which governs the choice of material. Such a material should be chosen which does not add up to the overall cost of the device.
Performance properties: The most important of them all is the performance of the device. The performance of the device depends on various standards like strength, resistance to high temperature and other mechanical factors. Thus, a material which is competent enough to handle these must be selected.
Regulatory compliance: One can always seek advice from manufacturing service partners who would be able to provide you an entire list of medical grades plastics and elastomers which meet compliance standards of all countries.
Since the material can affect the performance and cost of the device, keep these points in mind which would help you to make a wise choice.
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