KINGSPORT, Tenn., June 6, 2006—Accelerated aging testing of plastics used in medical packaging applications is a process that must be exact and accurate. Eastman Chemical Company has developed a technical tip that is now available on the company's Web site that provides guidelines for the proper aging of its Eastar copolyester 6763 used in medical packaging.

Package material aging information is needed to insure package integrity, satisfy current FDA validation requirements, and provide evidence of sterility and fitness-for-use over a product's life cycle. To decrease the time required for testing prior to device commercialization, manufacturers perform accelerated aging studies on the product/package combination. An important aspect of the aging of plastics is physical aging. The physical properties of plastics can improve or deteriorate over time as a plastic is held below its glass transition temperature.

The new technical tip, titled Accelerated Aging of Eastar Copolyester 6763 in Medical Packaging – US (TT-71), is available on Eastman's Web site at http://www.eastman.com/NR/rdonlyres/D46D4251-4B0D-4007-A310-39EB511DF4B5/0/TT71.pdf.