“Medical Design Engineers can ‘Make their Mark’ with Transfer Pad Imprinting” was published in the April 2014 issue of Medical Design Briefs magazine (published by Tech Briefs Media Group). By revealing the shortcomings of competitive technologies, such as laser etching, screen printing, inkjet printing and hot stamping, the article explains the benefits of transfer pad imprinting and the growing demand behind it.
Transfer pad imprinting as a method of identification and/or labeling medical devices is growing in popularity with medical design engineers due to its versatility, precision, and multi-color markings. Benefits of transfer pad imprinting include:
- Can be performed on virtually ANY medical device – regardless of size, substrate or surface irregularity.
- The permanent markings are impervious to chemical, heat, gas and other sterilization techniques.
- Multi-color printing capabilities and automatic pad cleaning between cycles ensure the most precise, consistent markings possible on difficult medical device components such as catheters, medical grade heat shrink tubing, and medical grade fabrics.
Design engineers are becoming increasingly creative with the use of new, specialized inks and highly-precise device markings on unusual surfaces and non-stick substrates such as PTFE, FEP, PEEK, HDPE and silicone to aid the design of breakthrough medical devices.
Other marking techniques, while certainly acceptable in select instances, may have serious drawbacks with regard to irregular surfaces; highly-intricate, multi-color imprints; performance on heat-sensitive substrates or adherence to non-stick substrates. Conversely, pad imprinting excels on all levels of functionality, robustness and image quality. Read the full article.
