Swedish Warships and Quality Management Systems
In the design of a new device, a good manufacturer will follow quality management principles to ensure the device meets the requirements of the end-user. What does this have to do with Swedish warships? History can provide us with useful lessons on quality management systems. The Vasa was a warship built in 1626 that holds […]
Automatic Crack Length Measurements in Fatigue Testing
Plastic components subjected to cyclical loading cycles during their use can sometimes failure through fatigue crack formation. A plastic that shows good toughness in static testing may have brittle behavior when exposed to millions of fatigue cycles, particularly in parts with a sharp notch. Fatigue crack propagation testing helps to determine if a material is […]
Detecting Potentially Harmful Contaminants in Medical Anesthesia
Many drugs used for the induction and maintenance of general anesthesia are volatile organic compounds that are delivered to the patient via inhalation. The low boiling point and high volatility of these compounds make them ideally suited for analysis by gas chromatography with mass spectroscopy (for example, as part of an in-process or QC check […]
Recent Articles on Cleanliness of Medical Devices
Two articles recently appeared in Qmed that discuss medical device cleanliness. The first discusses the effects of cleanliness on the application of coatings on guidewires. Guidewires are used to help steer catheters and other cardiovascular equipment through blood vessels. PTFE is often applied to improve lubricity of the guidewires. When problematic flaking of the PTFE […]