Ecomass nontoxic x-ray shielding materials helps market leader Aribex deliver an innovative, safe and extremely economical portable x-ray solution by reducing exposure to less than 1% of allowed occupational doses.
Challenge:
In order to improve dental radiography speed, convenience and efficiency while greatly reducing costs as compared to conventional x-ray systems, Aribex, the worldwide leader in handheld x-ray technologies, sought a lead-free injection moldable x-ray shielding material to deliver a non-toxic solution for their NOMAD Pro handheld dental x-ray product line. Weighing just over five pounds, their lightweight, portable cordless x-ray devices help save time and reduce exposure for dentists, dental hygienists, and their patients, while also significantly cutting costs by eliminating the need for multiple units.
Designers gathered the following list of material requirements:
- RoHS compliant material
- 1mm lead equivalent x-ray shielding
- Non-conductive material
- Injection moldable thermoplastic
Additionally, the developed x-ray shielding compound had to be cost effective as compared to other nontoxic traditional shielding materials, such as steel, aluminum and tungsten heavy alloy.
The Ecomass Solution:
The Ecomass sales and technical teams addressed these material challenges by developing Ecomass Compound 4703BI74, a 2.6 g/cc filled TPU able to shield back-scatter x-ray radiation without any toxic constituents. Moreover, material density and part wall thickness were optimized to deliver the most cost effective material solution given their shielding needs and part dimension constraints. Like all Ecomass Compounds, 4703BI74 is RoHS compliant and does not contain lead, lead compounds, or any other materials considered hazardous or toxic by the U.S. EPA.
Customer Feedback:
“The NOMAD has forever changed the way that dental radiography is performed by allowing an operator to safely stay in the room during a dental X-ray procedure. The NOMAD Pro is safe to use. With Ecomass Compounds, the NOMAD Pro incorporates modern internal shielding to block radiation leakage and a backscatter shield to protect the operator from X-rays scattered from the patient. This results in radiation exposure to the operator being more than one hundred times lower than regulatory limits.”– Dr. D. Clark Turner, former President and Chief Executive Officer of Aribex, Inc.