What is an interlayer?
An interlayer is simply a layer between two other layers. Outside of the medical field, the term is often used when two sheets of glass are fused with a plastic interlayer to create a type of glass with enhanced properties, such as safety glass, bulletproof glass, or light-emitting diode (LED) glass.
At Interlayer, we use the term interlayer in two senses, a physical sense, and a figurative sense.
In a strictly physical sense, an interlayer is a linker (adhesive layer/primer) that helps a coating (topcoat) adhere to a substrate:
coating
INTERLAYER
substrate
Figuratively, we often think of an interlayer as a layer that protects the natural world from the artificial world:
natural world
INTERLAYER
artificial world
An interlayer is often a coating that provides a protective interface between a synthetic material and living tissue. For example, a lubricious coating might sit between a minimally invasive surgical device and a blood vessel. The slick coating reduces friction and allows the metal or plastic device to easily slide through the vasculature, thereby protecting the patient from unintended trauma. In other words, an interlayer can make biological tissues and synthetic materials play nice together:
biological tissue
INTERLAYER
synthetic material
Or to put it another way:
patient
INTERLAYER
unintended interaction
with the medical device
(tissue damage, biofilm formation
thrombus formation)
An interlayer can also protect a medical device itself from things that can degrade its performance:
eschar buildup
INTERLAYER
electrosurgical
cutting and sealing device
corrosion
printed circuit board
INTERLAYER
An interlayer can transform a hazardous, wasteful liquid spray coating production method into a safe, environmentally friendly vapor-deposition coating method:
safe, environmentally friendly
vapor deposition coating
INTERLAYER
hazardous, messy liquid spray coating
An interlayer can also be thought of as a surface modification that transforms the undesirable surface properties (of an otherwise suitable substrate) into beneficial surface properties:
desired surface properties
INTERLAYER
undesirable surface properties
of the bulk material
An interlayer can also tie together science and economics:
good economics
(cost-effective production)
INTERLAYER
chemistry/physics/
engineering/biology