LSR for the healthcare market

I had the pleasure of meeting Gary Lord and Liv Schneider-Affeld of Dow Corning at the Compamed exhibition in Düsseldorf today. They answered my questions about the important launch of the new QPI-2XX family, which will be extremely useful in producing smaller and more complex parts — great news for the medical device market; it also proved very interesting for me in my other capacity as editor of Commercial Micro Manufacturing.

Rising medical expenditures, increasingly stringent healthcare regulations and growing demand for both disposable and increasingly complex medical devices are all driving healthcare OEMs and fabricators to seek versatile, new material technologies. According to Dow Corning, a global leader in silicones, silicon-based technology and innovation for the medical device industry, these converging trends are accelerating worldwide demand for its broad and growing portfolio of high-performance liquid silicone rubber (LSR) solutions. These include its biomedical-grade Silastic LSRs, its Dow Corning Class VI C6 LSRs, its Dow Corning QP1 LSR product family launched in 2012 and its upcoming Dow Corning QP1-2XX LSR line planned for launch early next year.

According to market research firm Freedonia, the medical industry is among the fastest growing markets for silicone materials. LSRs are attracting particular interest in this segment for their ease of processing and ability to form high-precision parts. In addition to delivering all of these qualities, Dow Corning’s QP1 LSRs have distinguished themselves further by delivering enhanced durability for demanding applications. The company’s new QP1-2XX product family will introduce improved rheology, allowing it to flow quickly at lower pressures to support high-volume liquid injection moulding for cost-optimised production of smaller and highly complex medical parts.

“The versatility and outstanding performance of our industry-leading LSR portfolio uniquely illustrates Dow Corning’s six decades of customer collaboration and materials innovation within the health care market,” said Gary Lord, global strategic marketing director for Healthcare at Dow Corning. “Our commitment to anticipate and meet emerging industry challenges continues, as we prepare to launch our new QP1-2XX family of LSR materials early next year. An important addition to our high-value portfolio, these advanced materials deliver enhanced rheology and a fast cure profile to reduce cycle times by at least 15 percent vs. competitive silicone materials.”

All LSR products in Dow Corning’s current QP1 and planned QP1-2XX portfolios are platinum-catalysed silicone elastomers manufactured under ISO 9001 compliance and backed by regular audits of the company’s manufacturing facilities to meet increasingly stringent healthcare requirements.