Eastman Chemical Company: Eastman Chemical expands its medical polymer portfolio

Eastman Chemical Company announced it will expand its portfolio of Eastman Medical Polymers with the launch of Eastman Tritan™ copolyester MP100.

Eastman Tritan™ copolyester MP100, an enhanced-performance polymer for rigid medical packaging, maintains all the same properties that have made Eastar™ copolyester 6763 the industry standard for rigid medical packaging, including chemical resistance, clarity and toughness. In addition, it provides a balance of design, processing and performance advantages through higher heat resistance, greater inherent toughness and exceptional post-sterilization clarity compared with other polymers.

The high heat resistance of Eastman Tritan™ copolyester MP100 provides sterilization and durability advantages. Tritan allows higher sterilization chamber temperatures, allowing faster ethylene oxide (EtO) cycle times and a reduced risk of warping and sticking. The material’s heat resistance permits more rapid accelerated-aging protocols that result in faster validation and more reliable shelf-life qualifications, reducing time and labor. Plus, the higher heat resistance of Tritan reduces the impact of aging and increases a package’s shelf life compared with other materials.

The toughness and design flexibility of Eastman Tritan™ copolyester MP100 ensures the protection of sterilized contents against damage and breach of sterile barrier. Tritan offers the potential for package redesign for lightweighting and downgauging to reduce thickness — requiring less source material that can result in reduced energy usage and shipping costs, as well as less secondary packaging.

Compared with other competitive materials, Eastman Tritan™ copolyester MP100 provides outstanding post-sterilization clarity and color. It quickly returns to glasslike transparency and original color after gamma sterilization to provide a high-quality appearance throughout a package’s life cycle.

Eastman Tritan™ copolyester MP100 offers extruding and processing properties that are similar to Eastar™. It also can be thermoformed with less wasted material and time because the material does not stress-whiten, or increase particulate or angel hair compared to sheet made from acrylic, acrilonitrile or polyvinyl chloride polymers.