RTP Company

RTP Company is a leading global compounder of custom engineered thermoplastics. We formulate and manufacture thermoplastic compounds in pellet, sheet, and film formats. These thermoplastic materials are sold to molders and manufacturers who process them into medical devices, parts, and equipment for safe and effective healthcare products.

Our engineers work with most resin systems and hundreds of modifiers to provide the right thermoplastic compound for your specific application. In addition to neat resins, we offer a wide range of thermoplastic compounds that provide color, conductivity, flame retardancy, structural, elastomeric, and wear and friction resistant properties. We can often solve multiple medical application challenges with a single, custom thermoplastic material!

Reaching Medical Product Design Goals with Thermoplastic Compounds

One of the biggest advantages to using thermoplastics for medical product design is the freedom to design complex, consolidated parts. Whether your goal is to improve strength and impact resistance, reduce part weight, control heat or static, introduce color, resist wear and friction, or extend the service life of your plastic parts, we can provide a thermoplastic compound to fit your requirements.

From pipettes and catheters to insulin management systems and surgical robotic equipment, our passion is finding a thermoplastic compound to fit your specific product design needs and improve the performance of your medical devices, components, or equipment!

Thermoplastic Selection, Formulation Control, and Change Management

Our engineers are skilled at assisting with selection of the correct thermoplastic material to meet your cost, performance, and regulatory goals. We maintain a database of known biocompatible materials that tracks the regulatory performance of resins, additives, and colorants.

Once your material is selected, formulation control is critical to ensuring the integrity of your medical application. Our “No Substitution” control service ensures that your custom thermoplastic compound formulation is maintained using a specific nomenclature that signifies there will be no raw material changes or substitutions without customer authorization.

Should there ever be a need to change the formulation of your thermoplastic compound, we will notify you of the change, and provide you with information on the type of change, timing, and material options. In addition, our suppliers have been carefully vetted for their commitment to supplying the medical market in order to reduce supply chain risks.

Radiation-Absorbing Thermoplastics for X-Ray Imaging

Radiopaque Compounds are used in medical devices that are inserted into the body for short-term diagnostic or surgical procedures. The additives we include in these thermoplastic compounds render the devices visible under x-ray or fluoroscopy imaging, providing the contrast needed to accurately locate or position the device inside the body. Examples of medical devices that can benefit from our Radiopaque Compounds include items such as catheters, surgical tools, dental products, and food delivery tubes.

Laser-Markable Compounds

Our Laser-Markable Compounds are formulated for durable laser marking that resists wear and abrasion, reduces processing costs, and can be sequentially numbered to comply with the FDA Unique Device Identification System. These specialized compounds are perfect for medical device packaging, dosage containers, and inhalers that require laser marked dosage dials, serial numbers, bar codes, and logos.

Hospital Cleaner Damage Resistant Alloys

Eliminating healthcare-associated infections has become a top priority in hospitals around the globe. One way to accomplish this is to improve disinfection procedures using cleaning solutions designed to kill bacteria, viruses, and other microbial organisms on hospital equipment. However, with repeated use, these harsh cleaners can cause weakness, brittleness, and cracking in plastic parts. When OEMs and injection molding companies started reporting that their plastic housings were breaking in record numbers due to harsh hospital cleaning solutions, we set out to create a new alloy compound that would minimize these issues. Our RTP 2000 HC series is specifically designed with superior resistance to the damage and degradation caused by harsh hospital cleaning solutions without impacting their effectiveness, making it an ideal material for plastic housings and parts.

Global Manufacturing, Local Support

With more than 20 manufacturing facilities, we formulate and produce our thermoplastic compounds worldwide, and support them locally by our expert sales and engineering staff. Wherever you are manufacturing your medical devices, parts, or equipment, RTP Company engineers around the world are ready to provide the assistance you need in finding the right thermoplastic compound for your product. For more information, please submit an enquiry form… we would love to hear from you!

Press Releases

RTP Company To Showcase Innovative Thermoplastic Technologies At MD&M Midwest

White Papers

Effect of Gamma Sterilization on Select TPE Materials

It is widely known and published that modern sterilization techniques used in the healthcare industry can have a detrimental effect on thermoplastic polymers. In particular, gamma sterilization, which is the most common ionization method, can cause substantial changes to occur in polymeric materials. Polymer chain scission and cross linking can both occur, altering the physical properties and appearance of materials and ultimately affecting the functionality of a device utilizing these materials.

RTP Company’s TPE (Thermoplastic Elastomer) Division has initiated a series of projects to measure the effect different sterilization methods have on RTP Company’s standard TPE products used in medical devices. This paper discusses the effect gamma sterilization has on these various TPE compounds produced by RTP Company for the healthcare industry.