FEP Tubing And Its Rising Demand

Shrikant Dethe, Business Development, Ami Polymer, gives an insight about FEP and how it has become an ideal choice for sterile filling, diagnostic equipment, cell transfer and laboratory use

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Understanding FEP

The accidental discovery of PTFE in 1938 by Dr Roy J Plunkett has turned out to have the lowest coefficient of friction of any known solid material. But as PTFE lacks the melt processability, a need of other fluoropolymers was generated. FEP shares the same basic monomer and is commercially obtained by free-radical polymerisation in an aqueous media via addition of tetrafluoroethylene (TFE, CF2=CF2) and hexafluoropropylene (HFP, CF3CF=CF2).

Properties of FEP

Structure of FEP is semi-crystalline, giving it not only a distinct and sharp melting point, but also generally better mechanical properties than those of the amorphous type of polymers. Sterilisation of the tubing can be done by gas (EtO), steam (autoclave) and gamma radiation.

Applications