The Need for Chemically Resistant Plastics and Antimicrobial Additives in a Pandemic Environment

Abstract

With the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s been renewed interest in ESCR (environmental stress cracking resistant) materials and antimicrobial additives for all manner of durable plastic products. Today’s healthcare-grade chemical disinfectants, which kill viruses, bacteria and other microbes, are being used pervasively. Unfortunately, these caustic chemical disinfectants attack molded-in stresses which result in cracking, crazing and premature product failure. There are also many questions regarding the available antimicrobial additives, their use, efficacy and associated marketing claims. In this session we will review critical material performance considerations, including ESCR by material type, and the different antimicrobial additive technologies which effectively kill microbes between cleanings and their compatibility with a variety of resins.

About the Speaker

Tim McGinnis is the Medical Business Manager at Entec Polymers, a division of Ravago and global leader in medical resin distribution.  He began his medical career at Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon and Ethicon Endo-Surgery divisions as a clinical sales manager, working directly with surgeons and clinicians in the operating room before transitioning into market development roles at J&J.  In 2006 he joined DSM as the Global Medical Sales and Marketing Manager, establishing DSM Biomedical, LLC and bringing a portfolio of high-value implant materials and technologies to the medical market.  Prior to joining Entec in 2014, he was the North American medical market development manager at Celanese.  Over the past 19 years Tim has developed a wide range of product and material expertise which he leverages with product development and engineering teams on appropriate medical material specification.