Engineering Insight

Sabic Innovative Plastics recently announced that GE Healthcare has selected Valox resin for the housing and Xylex resin for the storage bins of its new Optima XR220amx mobile X-ray machine to meet the increasing demands being placed on medical equipment. These high-performance resins helped GE Healthcare address toughening requirements for enhanced patient safety and outcomes, more-efficient care delivery and cost-effectiveness with this innovative device, which brings diagnostic radiology to the patient’s bedside.

“Using Valox and Xylex resins, we created a portable, easy-to-clean and attractive ‘radiographic room on wheels,’ ” says Guillermo Sander, Global Marketing Manager, Mobile DXR, GE Healthcare. The portfolio of resins and extensive application development services provided by Sabic Innovative Plastics helped us optimise the design and improve the performance of this next-generation diagnostic device.”

GE Healthcare chose Valox V3900WX resin, a high-impact polyester/polycarbonate (PC) blend, to design for healthcare industry requirements for increased safety of patients and improved cost control. Valox resin provides the chemical resistance of polyester to withstand stronger disinfectants being adopted to combat hospital-borne infections. For portable equipment such as the GE Healthcare device, it offers the high impact resistance and dimensional stability of PC to withstand bumps and bangs during transport within the hospital. Moreover, the flame-retardant, UV-stabilised resin provides moulded-in colour as a cost-effective alternative to traditional painted metal. It also delivers enhanced processability needed for moulding large, high-quality, precision parts.

The Xylex X7519HP resin is a transparent blend of PC and amorphous polyester. Compared to PC alone, the addition of polyester provides enhanced chemical resistance, supporting efforts to reduce hospital-acquired infections. Polyester also enhances the resin's stress crack resistance and permits lower processing temperatures. High impact resistance and glasslike transparency make Xylex resin ideal for storage containers. Like the Valox resin, this material features moulded-in color.