What is Medical Grade Silicone Rubber?

Silicone rubber has long been proven to supply excellent performance in a range of conditions and scenarios. It is used throughout many industries, performing many roles in numerous circumstances.

This is made possible because it is versatile and can be made to meet the precise specifications required for each project or use. Perhaps one of the best examples of this concerns medical grade silicone rubber. In this article, we’re going to look at this type of silicone rubber, so we can find out why it is useful, reliable, and safe to use in a variety of circumstances.

Silicone rubber products exist in different grades

Silicone is combined with oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen to form silicone rubber. It is known for its non-reactive nature, which means that it doesn’t react to anything it comes into contact with.

However, while this is the basic formulation behind silicone rubber, there are variations in that formulation. For example, some products made from this rubber are designed to be harder than others. Similarly, some are made to better withstand high or low temperatures when compared to the standard formulation.

So, how does this relate to medical grade silicone rubber?

Well, silicone rubber already has several advantages that make it an excellent choice for medical situations. It is resistant to water and other liquids, for example. It’s also flexible – ideal for tubing. Its non-reactive nature means that it can be used in many situations both inside and outside the body. It is biocompatible, making it the perfect choice throughout the medical industry. Anything used to provide care to patients must display this biocompatibility, otherwise it could potentially cause harm.

A specific formulation to achieve the required medical grade

When silicone rubber is required within a medical setting, it is formulated to provide the best performance in that setting. Everything from catheters to drug delivery systems can be made from medical grade silicone rubber rather than standard silicone rubber. This adds a further layer of protection and performance on top of the already impressive roster of advantages offered by silicone rubber.

We should also mention porosity, which refers to whether an item can let through fluids or even microscopic bacteria. This would obviously present a danger to health in a medical setting. Since silicone rubber is nonporous, this isn’t an issue. The smooth finish also means bacteria cannot become trapped in microscopic bumps and divots inside tubing. This leads to easier and safer cleaning in silicone rubber medical products that are designed to be used more than once.

When we need medical treatment, we do not think about how the various items are made, whether that’s tubing or machinery that requires seals to work. Yet there could well be more silicone rubber items in the average hospital or healthcare setting than you may think.

Even items as innocent as the teats on a baby’s feeding bottle are made from medical grade silicone rubber. We have plenty to be thankful for in this area.