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PET Film for Medical Grade Face Shields

PET film is a versatile material. It offers you dimensional stability along with tensile strength and transparency that can withstand the harshest demands. Because of its exceptional mechanical properties, it is an ideal material for a wide variety of uses and applications. From food packaging to plastic for laminating purposes, PET film offers you a performance advantage over other plastic materials.

With the emergence of the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), PET film has also become a popular specialty film material for face shields. Medical grade face shields used as PPE provide additional protection against pathogens. They can be used alone or in tandem with other PPE such as using a face shield over a surgical mask.

PET Film Sizes for PPE Face Shields

7 mil and 10 mil are typically the sizes used for hospital grade protective face shields. By comparison, the average Coke bottle is 12 mil in thickness. PET film used for face shields is approximately double the thickness of a soda bottle. Due to the nature of medical uses for PET film face shields, hospital grade face shields are optically clear.

Metric Equivalents and Thickness

Note that “mil” does not mean “mm.”

  • 7 mil is roughly 0.007 of an inch or 0.21 mm. thick.
  • 10 mil is roughly 0.10 of an inch or 0.25 mm. thick.

Commercial Uses for PET Film

While our focus has shifted to PET film for face shields, PET film offers additional benefits that should be carefully considered when choosing a specialty film for your application needs. 

PET Film Grades and Clarity Options

Besides offering optically clear PET film for face shields, PET film can also be available in the following film grades:

Biaxially Oriented
Bubble Extruded
Super-smooth
Heat-sealable   		High Clarity
Low Gloss
Low-haze matte
Metalized  

Clarity options for PET film include clear, white, hazy, and natural. 

Responding to the Needs of our Customers

Pet film offers you a high-performance thermoplastic for rigorous applications. Throughout our company’s history, we have been fortunate to partner with some amazing suppliers. Due to the extensive working relationships with our resin suppliers, we are focusing our PET film for hospital grade face shields.

We understand how important PPE is for our first responders and front-line medical personnel. Our commitment to our customers has not changed. We remain steadfast in providing you with the best PET film and look forward to working with you for whatever PET film challenges you may have. 

Adhesive Tapes, Packaging Film

Designing Solutions for Paper, Film, or Tape Projects

At Cheever Specialty Paper & Film we are more than your typical paper mill or distributor.  Our capabilities and experience allow us to work with you design an innovative solution to meet your needs.  Working within the framework of a 3 step process, our goal is to make sure your problem is solved.

Our 3 Step Process Includes:Custom tape capabilities

  • Design/Communication
  • Sourcing
  • Inventorying

An example of how this process can work is when we recently worked with a medical facility that was having an issue with keeping their operating room totally free of contamination.  After first communicating with them, we learned the problem they were having is when they used a portable overhead lamp to provide light to the area of the body they were working on, sometimes germs or bacteria would bounce off the light lens and into the open area of the body.  This could cause infection and was a serious health risk for patients under their care.

After learning what the issue was, we discussed possible solutions with them and came to the realization that a piece of film that you place over the light lens that is sterile and clean could solve their issue.  The next step was the sourcing process to determine what material would work best.  Once the material type was determined, then figuring out the best size, thickness, and adhesive type.  This process involves trying out different options to make sure the best one is found.  After a few iterations of trial-and error we were able to find the correct product that would cover the light lens without affecting the amount of light shining through, and would not allow germs to bounce off of it.  This was a big benefit for the medical facility as they were able to solve their contamination problem with this lamp lens film.

As part of our full service offerings we also were able to offer this medical facility the option to hold this film inventory for them with our inventory program.  This option allows 30, 60, 90 or even 120 days to hold inventory of this new product.  With delivery times of 1-3 days, you can easily plan and schedule your ongoing needs.

For more information on how our custom innovation capabilities can meet your needs, please reach out to us.

Adhesive Tapes

The Growing Demand for Adhesive Tapes in the Medical and Packaging Industries

The global adhesives and tape market is growing rapidly. By 2020, over 53.78 billion square meters of different bonding products will be created and used by numerous industries. However a close breakdown of the numbers shows that applications in healthcare and packaging outnumber the consumption in other sectors by a definitive margin.

Silicone Adhesive Tape

Adhesives & Their Components:

A good adhesive is not only durable with high bonding strength, it is also flexible and doesn’t corrode the surface to which it is applied. Both the medical industry and the packaging industry have different demands so the right category of tape is found by experimenting with carrier, the adhesive and the release liner.

Why are Adhesive Tapes so Popular?

Adhesive tapes offer significant non-intrusive benefits that mechanical fastening options do not. They typically remove the need of screws and non-structural substrates that are risky to handle and can’t be used on surfaces like sensitive human skin. Also adhesive tapes are cost effective, they are flexible, and their disposal doesn’t pose environmental hazards.

Use of Adhesive Tapes in the Medical & Packaging Industry:

In the medical industry adhesive tapes are generally of two kinds:

  • Structural tapes are chemically cured and used to hold together surgical instruments, rubber bumpers on crutches and figure prominently in the manufacture of IV tube sets.
  • Pressure Sensitive tapes which necessitate the application of higher pressure to forge the initial bond. Found in acrylic, silicone and hydrogel variants, these adhesives are extremely flexible and can hold together plastics, uneven surfaces with dips and bumps and even human skin.

The packaging industry relies on adhesive tapes to secure carrier boxes that store goods and perishables. Because of the rise of e-retailing and drop shipping, there is an inherent need to ensure the safe transit if often delicate and fragile items. Adhesives play a major role in this regard, especially in the food and beverage sector where the goods might be rendered unusable if they are jostled or exposed to the elements.

At Cheever Specialty Paper & Film we are specialists in tailored adhesive tapes and films. We take the time to understand our client’s needs, and then use our years of experience to get the best product for their application to them.  In the past we have served the pharmaceutical and medical industry by providing products for wound care, surgical drapes and gowns and medical devices.  Contact us for more information about our products and services.