Study on the Physical, Thermal and Mechanical Properties of SEBS/PP (Styrene-Ethylene-Butylene-Styrene/Polypropylene) Blend as a Medical Fluid Bag

Abstract

The presence of DEHP in PVC-based medical bags poses a significant health risk to patients undergoing blood transfusion. In order to fabricate safer medical fluid bag materials, the use of SEBS/PP polymer blend as a potential material was investigated. Polymeric blends with varying weight percentages of styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene/polypropylene (SEBS/PP) were fabricated by melt mixing using an internal Haake mixer. The physical properties of the SEBS/PP polymer blends were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). In addition, measurements of the mechanical strength (tensile strength and Young’s modulus) as per ASTM 638, polymer hardness was tested using a durometer and swelling was analysed through water absorption and compared with commercial PVC-based blood bags. The results indicate that the SEBS/PP 50/50 blend has approximately similar characteristics as PVC-based blood bags. The SEBS/PP polymer blend possesses approximate tensile strength and Young’s modulus with values of 23.28 MPa and 14.42 MPa, respectively, to that of the conventional PVC blood bags. The results show that the SEBS/PP polymer blends have negligible zinc and aluminium migration with values of 1.6 and 2.1 mg/kg, respectively, and do not elute any harmful leachates, while the thermal studies indicate that the studied SEBS/PP materials are capable of withstanding steam sterilisation at 120 °C and cold storage below −40 °C. The investigated material can be utilized for medical fluid bags and contributes towards sustainable development goals, such as SDG 3 to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being, as well as SDG 12 to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

Soft Chemiresistive Sensing Shields Soft Robotic Actuators from Mechanical Degradation due to Critical Solvent Exposure

“…This fact is in good agreement with what has been reported before. [ 64 ] In addition, exposure to different humidity values showed a minimal effect on the relative current (Figure 4i). Overall, in the investigated range, the sensor response of the strips was mostly unaffected by changes in the environmental conditions.…”

Preparation and characterization of polyacrylonitrile/nitrocellulose engineering blend

“…Softness was increased up to 20% than pure polymer material on the addition of NC. Improvement in softness may also be attributed to compatibility of PAN with NC 78 . The brittleness of PAN can be overcome due to the improved softness (Table 3).…”

Toward understanding the crystallization behavior of polypropylene‐based nanocomposites: Effect of ethylene–octene copolymer and nanoclay localization

“…1 A common practice to address this problem is to blend the PP with an impact modifier, like ethylene propylene diene (EPDM), ethylene propylene rubber (EPR), styrene ethylene butylene styrene triblock copolymer (SEBS), and various polyolefin elastomers (POEs). [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Polyethylene can be copolymerized with different comonomers (ethylene α-olefin copolymers) at different copolymerization ratios to come up with a polyolefin elastomer. Ethylene octene copolymer (EOC) has been highly regarded among ethylene α-olefin copolymers derivatives.…”

“…Despite its widespread applications, PP suffers from poor impact strength 1 . A common practice to address this problem is to blend the PP with an impact modifier, like ethylene propylene diene (EPDM), ethylene propylene rubber (EPR), styrene ethylene butylene styrene triblock copolymer (SEBS), and various polyolefin elastomers (POEs) 2–9 …”