ECOMASS® COMPOUND FROM POLYONE HELPS X-RAY EQUIPMENT MAKER GET THE LEAD OUT

NORCROSS, Ga. (January 23, 2001) – Xitec, Inc. (East Windsor, Conn.), a leader in low-power portable X-ray fluoroscopy systems for medical, industrial, security, and veterinary markets, wanted for years to get the lead out. The problematic heavy metal was a source of increasing concern for the company’s X-ray tube shield, a relatively thin-wall cylindrical that plays a major part in concentrating X-rays and shielding personnel from stray radiation. Xitec’s portable C-arm X-ray equipment is designed for a range of applications in the medical and veterinary markets, including viewing extremities in the emergency room, podiatry and hand surgery and is used in X-ray generators for airport security equipment.

Xitec’s original tube shield, hand-fabricated by rolling and soldering sheet lead, was climbing in costs, both for the material itself (as suppliers of sheet lead met increasingly stringent regulatory controls during manufacture, packaging, and shipping) and for the fabrication process (as Xitec enhanced its system designs and continuously beefed up controls and training for assembly and soldering safety). A precise aperture at the end of the shield, created manually with precision punches, as well as the shield itself, was prone to damage as the soft, malleable lead part was handled prior to final assembly. Lead scrap was also a constant hazardous material headache. Increasingly, Xitec wondered if an alternative existed that blocked X-rays yet didn’t have the ongoing problems of lead.

Then Dave Malcolm, Xitec’s chairman of the board, heard about ECOMASS® thermoplastic composite, formulated and distributed by PolyOne Corporation. ECOMASS composite is part of a new family of high-density POLYMETAL™ thermoplastic-metal composites from PolyOne that are alternatives to lead and other high-gravity metallic materials in many applications. Patented ECOMASS composite has the density of lead and a similar ability to block radiation, but without the other problems that accompany the use and disposal of lead.

Randy LaValley, Xitec’s mechanical design engineer for the company, followed up with Ideas to Market, L.P, the Austin, Texas-based technology transfer firm that has brought ECOMASS to market and is the owner of the ECOMASS patent. LaValley and Robert Durkee of Ideas to Market put their heads together, designing an X-ray shield that could be manufactured using conventional thermoplastic molding equipment.

“Robert [Durkee] helped us by going the extra mile in designing and commissioning the molds for the part,” says LaValley. “ECOMASS composite has turned out to be literally the perfect answer to our needs. Due to the complexity of the shape, the ECOMASS part is half the weight of its lead predecessor,” adds LaValley. “A mounting ring is molded into the part, removing several processes from assembly, and, best of all, the radiation performance of the ECOMASS material is excellent – zero rad meter at 16 inches.”

Xitec’s bottom line benefits as well. The ECOMASS part – including material, cost of the mold, and production expenditures – costs 50 percent less than the lead one. “It took us less than half a year to switch from lead to ECOMASS composite,” adds LaValley. “That’s six months for a total switch in material and approach, including part design, mold production, assembly training, everything. We have always had the lightest unit on the market, which is important for portable and cart-based equipment like ours. We’re now in the process of specifying ECOMASS composite for a series of new products.”

ECOMASS thermoplastic composite uses the heaviest of metals, tungsten, as a filler. Xitec uses ECOMASS NJ-96 TP composite, with a specific gravity of 11 grams/centimeter, equivalent to that of lead. PolyOne offers other polymer-metal composite products in its POLYMETAL line for other density and performance requirements.

A proprietary compound consisting of powdered tungsten dispersed in a thermoplastic matrix, ECOMASS composites provide a high level of radiation shielding and high-mass chara

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