Questions to Ask Before Using Die Cut Hydrogel | Strouse

Hydrogel has helped us advance far beyond glass eye contacts, but despite its unique properties, it isn’t the right choice for every application.

Over the past 40 years, Strouse has converted hydrogels for custom wound dressings, electronics, and agricultural applications. Before deciding to buy hydrogel, consider the different types, processing requirements, and other factors to help determine whether it is suitable for your needs.

What to Know Before Using Die Cut Hydrogel

Consider these questions as you assess whether hydrogel is the correct material for your intended die cut applications.

#1: WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF USING HYDROGEL?

a) DELIVERS WATER GRADUALLY

• • Reduces the frequency of upkeep for wound care, reservoir maintenance, and related tasks.
    
    

b) MOISTURIZES AND SOFTENS THE SKIN

• • Preventing scabs
    • Traditional wound dressings use gauze to absorb moisture from the wound bed; however, dry bandages can scab into the wound, making it painful and difficult to remove.
  • Speeding up the healing process
    • Healing scabs can take days or even weeks. Moisturizing scabs softens them, helping them heal faster.
    • Proper moisturizing prevents scab formation and promotes epithelialization.
  • Soothing and protecting nerve endings from suffering further irritation or damage
    • Hydrogel aids healing by maintaining the dynamic moisture balance at the injury site.
    • The dressings maintain a moist environment that soothes and protects nerve endings from suffering further irritation or damage and supports autolytic debridement (a.k.a., the body’s ability to break down necrotic wound tissue).

c) OFFERS INSULATIVE OR CONDUCTIVE PROPERTIES

• Hydrogel is insulating, but it can be engineered to become conductive.
• Often used in soft robotics and wearable health sensors
  
  

#2: HOW IS DIE CUT HYDROGEL TYPICALLY USED?

WOUND HEALING TREATMENTS

Healthcare providers use die cut hydrogel wound healing treatments for conditions such as:

• Scrapes/scratches
• Minor burns
• Chronic wounds
• Wound cavities
• Surgical and post-operative wounds
• Drug-delivery systems
  
  

ELECTRONICS

• Electrodes and other biosensors
• Hydrogel semiconductors
  
  

AGRICULTURE

• Water conservation
• Seed coating and germination
• Nutrient delivery
• Soil conditioning & erosion control
  
  

COSMETICS

• Gel masks
• Cooling sheets
  
  

#3: HOW DO YOU PICK THE RIGHT TYPE OF HYDROGEL?

Hydrogel isn’t a one-size-fits-all material; before you decide which type suits your application, consider asking:

For any liquid- or amorphous-hydrogel projects, contact the hydrogel manufacturer directly. Hydrogel-sheet designs are where a converter can add value to your process.

#4: HOW DO YOU PLAN ON PACKAGING YOUR HYDROGEL DIE CUTS?

Hydrogel is a temperamental material that must be packaged and shipped carefully. Processing and storing hydrogel parts is a complex balance that requires advanced converting experience: If the sealing heat is too low or too fast, the package fails to seal, and the hydrogel dries out.

This is especially important when incorporating packaging into a one-pass production process, which helps guarantee less material waste.

There are multiple methods of sealing it, depending on whether the gel is in sheet or amorphous form.

i. AMPORPHOUS HYDROGEL

Amorphous hydrogel is a liquid packaged in spray bottles or tubes for easy application, making packaging simple as long as the tubes remain airtight. It can be applied either soaked onto gauze or directly into a wound cavity.

ii. HYDROGEL SHEETS

Once hydrogel parts have been processed, converters use heat sealing to prevent the product from drying out. Heat sealing often uses PET (polyethylene terephthalate), which is placed on both sides and then heat sealed for protection.

#5: WHO ARE SOME OF THE BEST HYDROGEL SUPPLIERS?

If you're planning on using hydrogel, you'll want to buy it from a reputable supplier. These are our most-used hydrogel suppliers throughout the years:

a) Axelgaard

Axelgaard has been processing various hydrogels, electrodes, and other specialty products for years. They're one of the first companies we think of when buying quality hydrogel.

b) Sekisui Kasei

Sekisui supplies hydrogel for various purposes, offering a range of conductive options for electrodes or other medical devices. They also deal with thermoplastics, packaging tapes, and foams.

c) Polymer Science

Polymer Science offers hydrogels, hydrogel laminates, and hydrogel trilaminates in various thicknesses, with different water content and material additives based on the final application.

d) Scapa Healthcare

Scapa Healthcare offers solid polymer gel formulations for advanced wound care, consumer wellness, and other applications. Upon request, their team will add pro-ionic polymers to enhance the gel’s electrically conductive applications.

#6: WHAT ARE COMMON ISSUES USERS HAVE WITH DIE CUT HYDROGEL?

Although die cut hydrogel products, such as dressings and sensors, can be highly effective, they can also be expensive and labor-intensive to process. Here are the most common hydrogel problems you or your converter could encounter:

i. HYDROGEL DRIES OUT

By far, one of the most common issues with processing hydrogel is ensuring it doesn’t dry out.

Hydrogel is composed of 90% water with a gel base made from gelatin, pectin, polyvinyl, or polyethylene. It has a short shelf life when exposed to air and requires proper care to prevent the hydrogel from drying out during storage, processing, packaging, or shipping.

ii. IT'S DIFFICULT TO HANDLE

Hydrogel is a tricky and uncommon material to handle, and various issues can arise during processing. Hydrogel requires a specialized machine setup to cut precisely due to its stretchy nature. Unfortunately, setting up hydrogel production is difficult:

A. It’s sensitive to open air when exposed from its carrier

B. Specialized tooling ensures that it doesn’t stick during the process

C. It requires low tension, as higher tension can stretch the material out of tolerance

Imagine somebody handing you a strip of chewed bubble gum and asking you to cut a shape out of it. That’s the struggle equivalent of processing hydrogel.

iii. HYDROGEL CAN BE A COSTLY SOLUTION

The process complexity of hydrogel adds cost to the converting process, and hydrogel isn’t a cheap material to begin with.

Hydrogel is more expensive than cloth-wound dressings, partially due to its high Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ), although the exact cost will depend on the type of hydrogel you purchase. Still, if you’re hoping to find a converter to cut and process it, Strouse can help provide hydrogel samples for potential parts.

Is Die Cut Hydrogel the Best Product For Your Needs?

Die cut hydrogel is an excellent option for repetitive applications that require moisturization, but they do not offer much structural stability over an extended period.

It’s crucial to understand that hydrogel is a niche, expensive, and hard-to-process material that shouldn’t be selected on a whim; in fact, that's why many companies process hydrogel through converters, who can cut it to exact sizes for application.

Lastly, before you end up with a gooey mess, check out how partnering with a converter could save your project. Strouse’s converting experts can help prototype and build custom hydrogel parts so you can spend less time worrying and more time teaching your team how to become hydrogel experts in their field.

Originally published: January 6, 2023