RF Welding - Materials Selection 1

[ttx]

Hi,
We are designing a product for the medical industry that requires a cover bag.
At present the bag material we are using is 0.006" Polyethylene. We are heat sealing the bag seems in-house however, this does not work well for high-volume manufacturing.
Vendors that we have talked to say that they can't RF weld PE or don't work with it at all.
We have 0.005" Polyurethane in house however, have no means of testing it for RF weldablility.
Does anyone know if Polyurethane can be RF welded?
Are there other materials that we should be looking at?
Our requirements are:
-tear resistance
-chemical resistance
-thin/flexible
-opaque
-RF weldable
-smooth (doesn't build up shear with other materials)

Any inights or comments are welcomed.

Thanks in advance.

JW

Tactex Controls Inc.

 

[gambro]

Apart from the RF-weld "standard", which is PVC, themoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) can also give a very good RF weld, although the welding equipment must be modified to accomodate this material. Also, TPU-film is rather expensive.

A few years ago, The Dow Chemical Company came out with a new radio-frequency weldable Polyolefine film which seems to have a very good RF weldability. In fact, this type of film is now used in the medical industry to manufacture PVC-free infusion bags! Contact the Development Leader Bob Kelch (e-mail rkelch@dow.com) for more details.

 

[ttx]

gambro,
Thanks very much for the information.....

Best Regards,

JW