STERILIZATION (in cooperation with external partners)
Since our bulbs are made of medical grade PVC, they can be sterilized with ETO gas (ethylene oxide gas) or radiation. They cannot be steam autoclaved.  For home use, they can be boiled for approximately 10 minutes without problems.  With regard to radiation, our bulbs have been tested at 2.5 megarads with no ill effects.

PACKAGING
We do offer custom made carton and polybag packagings. Depending on your design needs we are more than happy to provide you with the best solution for you and your business.

PVC ROTATIONAL MOLDING
Rotational molding is a thermoforming process.  Liquid PVC plastisol is dispensed into the bottom half of a mold.  The half of the mold is closed and bolted securely.  The mold moves into a furnace and begins to rotate slowly on two axes (in two directions).  The rotation ensures the plastisol coats the inside walls of the mold while the heat from the furnace "cooks" and solidifies the PVC.  When the mold is unbolted, the product is removed in one piece.  A hole in the bulb is later drilled out in a secondary operation.  The resulting product looks identical to the inside of the mold it was produced in.

Our bulbs are made of USP Class II medical-grade PVC plastisol (a liquid form of polyvinyl chloride).  PVC is a much tougher material than rubber.  Rubber deteriorates with exposure to sunlight and ozone.  It has a shelf life of about 3 years before cracks and dryness begin to occur.  PVC will last virtually forever.  The feel of the bulb is similar to rubber.  In fact many find the "bounce back memory" of PVC even better.  The finished product can be flexible or firm depending on the durometer specified.
Our standard durometer is 55 +/- 5 Shore A.  We can change the durometer for large quantity orders.  The wall thickness can be changed by the amount of material we dispense into the molds, also.

Advantages of our process: Some of our competition manufactures their bulbs by injection molding. This process creates a two-piece product, and then the pieces are welded together.  Our product is made in one piece.  There are no welded seams to come apart, as has happened in the past with injection molded bulbs.  Another huge advantage is the thickness of the bulb.  When you have a sharp radius (corner or angle) with other type molding processes, you will automatically have a weak area due to the thinner walls.  With rotational molding, exactly the opposite is true.  Actually, there is more material deposited in sharp angled or radius areas.  One other advantage we have is due to the one-piece design.  There are no parting lines on the inside, only a solid wall.  This solid, one-piece construction creates better vacuum draw in our suction bulb and prevents bacteria from forming inside the bulb due to no parting lines.  This is extremely important for the ear and ulcer syringes whose main use is clearing the breathing passages of newborn babies.

SPECIALTY PVC PRODUCTS OFFERED
PVC will naturally soften somewhat in hot temperatures and become stiffer and more rigid in cold.  If very cold temperatures are the norm, you may want to use our cold resistant material.  It has special additives that prevent the bulbs from becoming stiff and developing cracks at extremely cold temperatures.  Bulbs have been tested to minus 4° Fahrenheit.  They are much more flexible than latex products at these temperatures.  We also offer UV resistant material if fading is an issue.

CUSTOM PRODUCTS TOOLING
We currently manufacture a wide range of custom products to meet unique demands.  Our procedures are simple.  We assist the customer in the designing of the product, and we then build the tool or mold and start producing product.  Molds that are paid for by customers are owned by them (the mold rights remain with Albert International) and stored at our facility for future production needs. The molds are made of anodized aircraft aluminum produced by casting and or machining so they will last a long time. Lead time for production of a custom mold is normally 8 - 12 weeks.

In addition, we strongly suggest that our customer invest in a prototype mold to see if the design will work. Changes then can be made before the final mold is produced.  These prototype molds are made of non-anodized aircraft aluminum and will only produce up to 25 - 50 samples.  Lead time is usually 4 - 6 weeks.