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FLUORAZ® MEETS EXACTING STANDARDS OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
19 March 2004 - Greene Tweed & Co Benelux BV
| Quality, compliance and safety are critical in the pharmaceutical industry. Because these factors weigh heavily in daily pharmaceutical operations, engineers are forced to re-examine the seals and sealing materials used in their plants as they develop new drugs and the processes needed to manufacture them. |
Fluoraz®, a tetrafluoroethylene/propylene (TFE/P) based elastomer by Greene, Tweed, withstands the challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry in these key applications.
Fluoraz has been an essential component of Greene, Tweed's product portfolio for two decades. With more than a century of rubber compounding expertise, Greene, Tweed leads the industry in bringing existing products to new markets. Jonathan Pledger, general manager of Fluid Handling at Greene, Tweed, says, 'While the pharmaceutical industry is based on innovation, they are sometimes hesitant to use new and innovative materials for their processing equipment. Fluoraz has been a core compound within Greene, Tweed for a number of years; we just took the next logical step in the evolution of this unique compound.' Fluoraz combines the steam and caustic resistance of EPDM with the heat resistance of a fluoroelastomer, providing the ideal sealing solution for SIP (steam-in-place) and CIP (clean-in-place) applications. Fluoraz is well suited for pharmaceutical companies who are looking to use higher temperature steam and stronger caustic cleaning agents but have been struggling to find an elastomer able to outlast these harsh environments. Fluoraz 784 and 890 are FDA compliant, making Greene, Tweed the first and only seal supplier globally to obtain FDA compliance for use of a TFE/P elastomer for repeated contact with food. Both compounds, along with Fluoraz 799, are USP Class VI compliant. Fluoraz 799, a high-durometer compound, is also complaint to USP Cytotoxicity <87> and USP Physicochemical Complete <661> and has been tested to USP Elastomeric Enclosures <381>. In addition to improved SIP and CIP performance, Fluoraz offers lower extractables. Recent third-party test results show Fluoraz has six times lower total organic carbon extractables than premium peroxide-cured EPDM and ten times lower metals extractables than the best 'steam-resistant' FKM formulations.
http://www.gtweed.com
About: Greene Tweed & Co Benelux BV
Greene, Tweed specialises in the development, manufacture and supply of rings, seals and profiles for industrial applications in which extremely high specifications are set for the material; brand names include Chemraz, WR and AR. An early product in the portfolio, the G-T Ring, was introduced and approved for use in the landing gear of the F-4 Phantom in 1964. The G-T Ring remains a core product in Aerospace landing gear today. As the business developed, strategy warranted the establishment of corporate headquarters in Kulpsville, Pa., USA. in the 1970s. With this foothold, the company expanded around the globe. In the early 1980s it introduced several versatile elastomers, such as Fluoraz, and designed pioneering product geometries, such as the first "capped seal." Arlon, a tough, high-temperature, semi-crystalline engineering polymer, also joined the product line, followed shortly by one of Greene, Tweed's most innovative products, Chemraz, a chemical-resistant elastomer, effective in the most extreme temperatures. Recognizing the race toward a global economy, Greene, Tweed began geographic expansion by opening offices in Germany, England and France. By the mid 1980s, Greene, Tweed had established a presence in the Pacific with a Japanese office. The Asian market has maintained its pattern of growth with additional offices today in Singapore and Korea. The turn of the century ushered in a new product, Orthtek, a lightweight, thermoplastic composite with high-strength and radiolucent properties, that satisfies the demands of the Medical and Biotechnology industry. Worldwide expansion has continued with new offices in the Netherlands, Italy and Spain. A tradition of creative and innovative ideas has also grown with the development of new products, from new composite technologies and vision systems to fibre optic connectors and extreme electrical connectors. Greene Tweed’s WR and AR product ranges are distributed by Flowserve all over Europe. In Belgium the Greene Tweed & Co products are also distributed by Humitab BVBA in St.Job in ‘t Goor.
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