Tough and biostable EVA-Clay based Nanocomposites for medical applications

Abstract

Nowadays, there are constant demand for cost-effective and innovative biomedical materials for both medical devices and packaging purpose. Howover, a problematic issue in the medical field is the limited number of existing biostable, biocompatible and tough materials that ofer versatility, exceptional performance, and meet industrial nature. This could probably due to the stringent requirements; properties, design processing and availability constraints. The increasing research and development of quality plastic meterials for biomedical applications is therefore, necessary. This is belived to be an area where innovation in new medical nanocomposite meterials is needed. In order to be useful for biomedical device applications, the most importance material property is to withstand repead sterilization processes that may involve gamma irradiation, high temperatures, electron beams, and oxidative and hydrolytic treatments. In addition, a material must show excellent chemical resistance, toughness, clarity and colorstability in order to be effectively applied to biomedical applications. Meanwhile for the medical packaging purpose, the material should withstand prolonged mechanical stress and impact forces during transportation and storage in order to protect package contents from physical damage. In this current project, we produce and investigate ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA) nanocomposites incorporating montmorillonite (MMT) for use in a broad range of biomedical applications including implantable devices.