The sheet vacuum-formed TPU reliably protects medical orthopedic implants and improves the impact strength of the contained PETG aseptic blister. The product won the Gold medal of Medical products in SPE2016 Thermoforming Competition.

   Award-winning product
   Barger, Placon, a medical company based in Elkhart, Indiana, designs and manufactures thin-sheet vacuum-formed TPU(thermoplastic polyurethane) medical linings that reliably protect circular femurs, one of several components of medical hip implant assemblies. The product won the gold award for roll-feed medical products in SPE Thermoforming Competition 2016.

     Features and advantages
   Thermoformed TPU encapsulation components are an economical way to protect sensitive orthopedic implants, with the advantage that they can be custom-designed to hold various implants in the same PETG sterile barrier encapsulation system.    Significant cost savings for customers and ultimately consumers can be achieved by securing multiple stock components using existing proven sterile barrier systems.
    These thermoformed Tpus have extremely high wear resistance and are important for many orthopedic implants with extremely rough, textured surfaces that allow bone to grow into the implant. Traditional packaging for orthopedic implants such as closed-cell foam and polyvinyl chloride do not tolerate these rough surfaces and are prone to wear and tear, creating particles in medical packaging.
   This special thermoformed TPU can withstand the most common forms of disinfection, including gamma rays and ETO(ethylene oxide) disinfection.
   This thin thermoformed polyurethane (TPU) package protects the implant and absorbs impact on the polyethylene glycol modified PET blister package. The product is thermoformed in a clean room environment to create a sterile, barrier medical device packaging system with replaceable TPU inserts that can be customized to protect a variety of components, including the femoral head.
   TPU material is an integral part of packaging design because of its excellent elasticity. Other packaging materials, such as foam and polyvinyl chloride, do not tolerate the rough, textured surface of the hip component and can scratch and wear.      TPU is a highly wear-resistant material, but it is unstable during thermoforming. The material shrinks easily and sticks to the mold. Barger uses a process to control the shrinkage effect and a proprietary method to remove the parts from the mold.
   The packaging produced is a combination of aseptic, impact-resistant, thin-wall, PET and TPU blister packaging with good protective function, with precise technical indicators, easy to use in the operating room.