"Hello, currently I am working with 2 Cal Poly professors to make monitoring operating room packs easier. Our goal is to be able to attach micro RFID tags to surgical tools so that they can be scanned and bookmarked. What type of adhesive would work best to attach these tags to surgical tools? The adhesive needs to be biocompatible and be able to undergo sterilization."

Assuming most surgical tools are stainless steel, and need to survive repeated autoclave, I would recommend looking at 2-part epoxies as your base chemistry. Options are available from Loctite, 3M, and Epoxy Technology, to name a few, and some have biocompatibility certificates on file. If the surgical tools are disposable or plastic, and only need to withstand a single autoclave cycle, EtO, or Gamma sterilization, then a light-curable acrylated urethane like the DYMAX 1120-M-UR light-curable medical device adhesive would be my first choice. Acrylated urethane light-curable adhesives have excellent adhesion, are simple to apply as a 1-part material, and cure in less than a second.

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"Our research lab is looking for a medical-grade adhesive to bond:
1.) Dacron cloth to silver plate and
2.) Glass and PMMA optical cylinder in a silver tube.
It needs to be moisture resistant and should last for a long time (20 years).
Please suggest a product."

Dacron is a commercial name for PET, or polyethylene terephthalate. Bonding cloth to a rigid substrate like a silver plate can be done in a few different ways. Bonding to cloth is mostly a mechanical lock that forms by encapsulating strands of the cloth and then locking them to the rigid substrate. The viscosity of the adhesive will play a role, as the thinner the viscosity, the more it will wick into the cloth. A very high viscosity will not wick very far into a cloth. A 2-part epoxy, such as found from Loctite or 3M, or a 2-part urethane, such as found from Lord Corporation, are just two products that you might want to explore. A silicone adhesive may also do the trick, and would suggest contacting representatives of Dow Corning, Momentive Performance Materials, NuSil Technology, or any of the other silicone manufacturers.

To bond glass and PMMA you may be able to use the same adhesive, but the application might require a lower-viscosity material, depending on the gap between the parts and method of assembly. The epoxy and silicone systems will be moisture resistant and have good usage life, but most manufacturers will not warrantee a 20-year usage lifetime. A 1-part, light-curable urethane acrylate, like 203A-CTH or 209-CTH from DYMAX, are options if you can get light to the adhesive.

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"I need to bond ABS to ABS in a pure-water environment (50° to 180° F). Concern for leaching chemicals into the pure water is high. What FDA-approved solvent choices do I have?"

One website that I found listed various solvents like Cyclohexanone, Cyclohexanone/THF, Cyclohexanone with various medical-grade acrylic polymers dissolved in the solvent for added strength, and various other combinations. www.ineos-nova.com. The grade of solvents are typically not listed as Medical Grade or FDA approved, but based on the level of purity of the solvent. Obtaining the solvent of choice with the highest purity (99.9% or higher) would limit the potential leachables into the water. Sigma Aldrich or Alpha Aesar both carry small quantities of these solvents in various grades for evaluation. Methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) is an alternative solvent system. Using a solvent requires special handling due to the smell, flammability, and explosive storage requirements, and is carefully monitored by the EPA. Dispensing systems like those from Technoideal are options to limit operator exposure . If you want to consider a solvent-free adhesive, you might look at a 1-part, light-curable adhesive like DYMAX 1161-M if you can get visible light to the bond line (non-opaque parts), or a 2-part urethane or epoxy from companies like Epoxy Technology or 3M (to name a few) may be considered. These alternatives to solvent can provide a bond almost as strong as solvent, fill gaps in the molded ABS bond lines, and are much more environmentally friendly.

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