Kinetics of the aeration of ethylene-oxide sterilized plastics.

The aeration of ethylene-oxide (EO) sterilized medical plastic materials is dealth with mathematically, and subsequently the model found is used for calculation of the EO diffusion coefficient in various plastics with the composition and temperature as variables. Absorption and dissolution of EO in various plastic materials are measured at varying concentrations of EO, temperatures and compositions of plastics. The mathematical model is used to evaluate the EO desorption from medical devices under different physico-chemical conditions as well as in vivo. EO analysis methods are evaluated on the basis of the model and are compared with experimental results.