Phase II year
1992
(last award dollars: 1994)
The long-term objective is to provide a commercial facility for the production of thin-@ hermetic encapsulants, specifically addressing the needs of the biomedical community for insulated lead wires and cables. The methods for functional hermetic polymer formation by plasma polymerization (PP) and vapor deposition (VD) technology, which we successfully developed in the Phase I program, will be used for surface modification, interfacial bonding, and encapsulant synthesis. Specifically, we will pursue the development and expand on our results for batch processing of hermetic encapsulants by constructing and operating a continuous feed wire coating reactor. The technical objectives of the Phase II program are classified into innovations in reactor synthesis conditions, chemical characterization of bulk and surface properties, and testing of encapsulated structures.Awardee's statement of the potential commercial applications of the research:Commercially, a market exists for miniature insulated wires/cables which can withstand the rigors of salt water immersion, flexion, and voltage bias. A subset of this market includes biomedical insulated wires/cables to interface peripheral sensors and actuators with control circuitry, power supplies, and recording devices. Significant technological innovations will be accomplished during the Phase II period by the successful hermetic encapsulation of wire substrates in a reel-reel PP/VD reactor.
Thesaurus Terms: biomaterial evaluation, biomaterial interface phenomena, nervous system prosthesis, technology /technique biomaterial implant /compatibility, mechanical stress, polymerization, tensile strength National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
