Steam autoclave sterilization is critical to ensuring that lab and surgical equipment is cleaned of all potential microbial contamination. But the extreme heat, moisture, vacuum and pressure of autoclave sterilization isn’t just tough on bacteria, fungi and viruses. It can also remove or do damage to the labels we use to identify and track labware, surgical instruments, trays, and other equipment.

This is why it’s important to choose the right autoclave-resistant labels. When you use labels with the right materials and durability, they’ll easily withstand the extremes of the autoclave, even across repeated sterilization cycles, and specialized labels can even withstand additional conditions such as cryogenic storage, dry heat ovens, gamma irradiators, or ethylene oxide gas treatments.

For the best results in applications such as these, Zebra’s Z-Xtreme and Z-Ultimate labels are the top recommendation for their extreme temperature resistance, scratch and smear resistance, their ability to withstand harsh chemicals such as isopropyl alcohol and bleach, and their unparalleled resistance to the harshness of the steam autoclave process.

Why Zebra Z-Xtreme and Z-Ultimate Labels Are the Best Option

Z-Xtreme and Z-Ultimate labels have a minimum application temperature of 50°F (10°C) when first applying your label to your labware, instruments, or other items. But once they’re applied, they can be exposed to temperatures of -40°F (-40°C) to up to 302°F (150°C) and still remain adhered and easily readable or scannable.

Both types of labels are great for labeling stainless steel and aluminum metal surfaces as well as Pyrex glass. There are specific label model numbers that are also quite good for labeling most plastics and even rough and moist surfaces.

Z-Xtreme labels have a white, matte polyester facestock that provides outstanding print quality and good smear and scratch resistance, along with excellent resistance to chemicals. If you need maximum smear and scratch resistance, then Z-Ultimate labels are recommended. Their white, gloss polyester facestock offers enhanced durability against smearing and scratching beyond what the Z-Xtreme offers.

Typically, you will want to use Z-Xtreme or Z-Ultimate 2000T or 4000T labels and pair them with Zebra’s 5095 or 5100 resin ribbons for high durability to abrasion, harsh chemicals and the environmental stresses of the autoclave.

With both the Z-Xtreme and Z-Ultimate, there are versions with removable acrylic adhesives, and the rest are UL-approved and CSA-compliant labels with permanent acrylic adhesives for long-term labeling.

Zebra PolyPro Labels for Curved Surfaces

One special consideration in labeling labware or instruments for autoclave sterilization is the curvature of the surface. If you’re labeling a curved surface and it will be exposed to the autoclave, Zebra’s PolyPro 4000T labels are typically your best choice.

The PolyPro 4000T comes in a standard, high-tack or removable version, and it has a matte Kimdura® polypropylene facestock with a permanent or removable acrylic adhesive. The Kimdura polypropylene material is more flexible than a polyester label, so it’s better for adhering to curved surfaces.

The PolyPro 4000T offers outstanding operating temperature resistance of -40°F (-40°C) to up to 250°F (121°C), and it can be applied at temperatures as low as 10°F (-12°C) if you’re using the standard label within this type. When applying a version with high-tack or removable adhesives, then the application temperatures need to be higher, and the operating temperature ranges learn more toward the colder side and don’t offer as much high-temp resistance.

Finding the Right Autoclave Labels for Your Needs

To get more details and to match up the right label and specs with your autoclave application, download our Zebra label and supplies selector guide and check out pages 14-16 for information on Zebra’s PolyPro, Z-Xtreme and Z-Ultimate Labels.

Or feel free to connect with our autoclave labeling exports at Tri-State Business Systems, so we can provide you with an exact recommendation along with great pricing and support for your labeling and printing needs. Contact us now www.tri-statebussys.com , or call us at 908-359-8001

UL-approved labels are an essential part of manufacturing many products because these labels are used to convey safety-related information to consumers and other end users. Each label might contain information on the product’s safety certification as well as warnings, hazard indicators, ratings, instructions, or graphics designed to help ensure safe use or operation of the product.

UL designation comes from Underwriters Laboratories Inc., a private, non-profit certification and consulting company that tests and approves products to ensure that they meet specific safety standards. Typically, UL approval involves electronic devices or components as well as fire safety products. But the company has become increasingly involved in testing and certifying for a wide range of issues including hazardous substances, water quality, food safety, performance testing, and environmental sustainability.

Products or components that are UL-approved can be labeled as such after being submitted to UL, going through its testing and evaluation, and receiving official UL certification. Importantly, many customers and companies will not purchase goods that don’t meet UL safety standards and certification because insurance companies typically won’t insure non-UL-approved devices. Additionally, local laws prevent many businesses from using non-UL approved electronics.

Once you have UL certification and are approved to apply the UL mark to a product or component, you then need to submit a design of your UL certification label to a UL label center to verify that all required information is in an acceptable format.

However, a UL-approved label isn’t just a matter of product certification and communicating required safety information. The label itself must meet the UL 969 standard for permanence and durability. This standard tests and certifies that the label remains adhered and readable, even in conditions such as outdoor exposure, sunlight, extreme heat, high humidity, the presence of water or oils, and other factors.

To be certified and UL-approved, labels are tested and reviewed for numerous environmental, exposure, and durability factors that can impact how well the label withstands the conditions of use in the marketplace. Since factors such as sunlight, heat, humidity and oil or water can potentially cause labels to fade, become unreadable, or even fall off a product or component, specialized label materials and printing ribbons are required for UL approval.

Ultimately, UL tests and reviews labels for a number of factors, including:

• The materials used in the manufacturing of the label
• The label’s endurance through natural wear and tear
• The label’s resistance to conditions such as heat, humidity and oils
• The measurable area of the label where printing can occur
• The appearance, legibility and prominence of the printing.

Fortunately, product manufacturers can easily meet these standards and ensure UL label compliance by working with UL-approved labels and printing supplies from a UL-certified manufacturer. UL-authorized label manufacturers use the right materials and supply the proper printing ribbons to meet Underwriters Laboratories’ stringent standards for long-term label legibility, adhesion, and performance.

One of the world’s top UL-approved label suppliers is Zebra, a global leader in barcoding and labeling since 1969. Zebra manufacturers UL-approved thermal transfer labels that withstand environmental stresses better than any other products on the market.

For example, Zebra’s Z-Ultimate 3000T labels are pearl white, gloss polyester thermal transfer labels with permanent acrylic adhesives, and when paired with compatible Zebra resin printer ribbons, they offer UL-certified extreme resistance to chemicals, UV exposure, smears, scratches, and conditions as extreme as water immersion, contact abrasion, and more.

Zebra’s Z-Ultimate labels are also designed to withstand indoor and outdoor conditions and temperatures such as extreme cold or heat, high humidity and moisture. Print quality and durability are outstanding, and there are no fading, damage, or readability issues from outdoor exposure.

The key to this performance is Zebra’s stiffer, polyester label material with gloss finish, plus a resin printing ribbon, which ensures that thermal-transferred information and graphics remain readable for many years. The stiffer polyester of the Z-Ultimate 3000T is a great choice for labeling flat surfaces, but if you need to label round surfaces, a variant with a matte finish would be ideal since it will help the label adhere better over surface curvature.

Ultimately, the right UL-approved label will depend on your application requirements as well as the conditions and how your product or component will be used by the end user out in the marketplace. However, there are two great ways to quickly and easily narrow down your choices.

1. Contact TSBS for the Zebra certified labels and supplies selector guide and check out the page on Zebra’s UL-recognized labels and corresponding ribbons. This will give you a quick rundown of each product, its core label material, compatible ribbons, and its specific UL recognition.

2. Contact our UL labeling experts at Tri-State Business Systems for personalized recommendations and guidance. We’ve been helping manufacturers specify and choose the right labels for decades, and our partnership with Zebra allows us to bring you its best label and supplies products at the best prices and with outstanding support.

Contact us now www.tri-statebussys.com , or call us at 908-359-8001

For pharmaceutical and biotech companies that need to label and track specimens and vaccines through cold storage, standard barcode labels won’t handle the job.

To handle the environmental stresses of going through alcohol wipe downs and refrigeration or cryogenic freezing, labels need to be made with specialized materials and adhesives that can withstand the harshest cold storage conditions and handling.

Labels also need to be printed with specialized resin ribbons to ensure that barcodes and printed information remain scannable and readable, even after exposure to chemicals, extreme temperatures, and up to five years or more of cold storage.

This is one of the reasons why our labeling experts at Tri-State Business Systems recommend Zebra’s Cryocool 8000T cold storage labels and its 6200, 5095 resin ribbons for pharma and biotech.

As a global leader in barcoding and labeling since 1969, Zebra has some of the highest-quality label production and research & development facilities in the industry. Its 8000T Cryocool labels are one of the many products the company has developed to meet the highly specialized needs of the pharma, biotech and healthcare industries.

Cryocool 8000T labels are thermal-transfer, polypropylene labels designed with a specialized facestock and cold-temp permanent acrylic adhesive, along with a 40 lb. semi-bleached, kraft-stock liner. When combined with Zebra’s 5095 resin ribbon for printing, these materials produce high-quality and extremely durable labels that can survive temperatures as low as         -196° C for liquid nitrogen cryogenic applications and deep-freezing processes.

They will also withstand conditions such as dry ice (-80° C), steam autoclave, and even gamma radiation, and they can survive temperatures as high as 88° C.

Cryocool labels ensure adhesion despite these extreme conditions, and they provide excellent smear, erasing and scratch resistance. They’re also resistant to moderately harsh chemicals, including 70% isopropyl alcohol solutions for disinfecting as well as ammonia and bleach.

Zebra tests all of these capabilities using ISO:9001:2008 quality assurance procedures. To test its Cryocool products, Zebra applies labels to glass vials (2.8 cm OD), polypropylene centrifuge tubes (3.5 cm OD, 50ml), and glass microscope slides, and it allowed 24-hour dwell time before exposure to extreme conditions.

Zebra then tests the labels in a wide variety of environments and conditions, including high temps, low temps, freezers, pressure cookers, liquid nitrogen, moving from freezers to boiling water, and moving from liquid nitrogen to boiling water.

It logs typical results and recommendations for its labels and each use case involving glass vials, centrifuge tubes, and microscope slides. The end result is a thorough validation of its label performance and durability, with testing specs and results made available on Zebra’s product spec sheets.

For leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies, the real-world results speak for themselves. In our years of working with pharma and biotech clients and supplying labels for their cold storage needs, Zebra labels consistently outperform competing solutions and provide peace of mind in knowing that labels will always adhere and remain readable and scannable, even in the toughest cold storage and other conditions.

To learn more about Zebra Cryocool 8000T labels, download our spec sheet now, and connect with our pharma and biotech labeling experts at Tri-State Business Systems to get a free assessment and recommendations for your cold storage and other applications. Contact us now through our website, or call us now at 908-359-8001.