Why Are Silicone Products So Popular?

In hospitals and clinics, various types of rubber products can usually be seen, such as medical silicone tubes, needle silicone plugs, and silicone ropes tied to hands, etc. Currently, besides drugs, medical equipment is the most prevalent in the medical industry. So why are silicone products attracting so much attention?

Properties and structural characteristics of silicone rubber products

In fact, the reason why silicone rubber products are widely used in the medical field is mainly due to their properties and structural characteristics. For example, the rubber stopper used for sealing and packaging medical drugs requires certain elasticity, can maintain its original sealing and airtightness after needle piercing, and cannot have debris falling off. However, the characteristics of silicone rubber itself are difficult to meet the current medical needs, so it is necessary to modify silicone rubber or add some reagents to change its deficiencies to meet medical applications.

The two most widely used materials currently are silicone rubber and polyurethane. Polyurethane has excellent biological compatibility, excellent mechanical properties, easy molding and processing, and controllable performance. Silicone rubber has good physiological inertness and biocompatibility. These two materials have been discovered in the medical field early and continuously attract attention and research by industry insiders.

Silicone rubber is based on linear polymethylsiloxane with a high molecular weight, added with certain specific components, and processed according to certain technological requirements to become a rubber-like elastic body with a certain strength and elongation. Silicone rubber used as medical material has a series of excellent properties, such as high temperature resistance, oxidation resistance, hydrophobicity, flexibility, transmittance, high aging resistance and transparency, physiological inertia, non-adhesion to human tissues and blood, good biocompatibility, non-toxic, tasteless, and non-carcinogenic.

Silicone rubber as a high-performance medical polymer material

It has attracted attention from professionals both in the rubber industry and the medical field. The reason is that first, the technology content of using silicone rubber medical materials is high, the cost is low, the added value is high, and the economic benefits are considerable; second, using the medical properties of silicone rubber. It can solve many medical problems and can also make patients obtain satisfactory therapeutic effects; third, high performance silicone rubber has a wide range of uses, easy for silicone rubber product manufacturers to produce and process, and has good social and economic benefits.

From the trend of the development and research of medical-grade silicone products, their quantity and usage are increasing year by year, and their applications are constantly expanding. Currently, medical silicone rubber products are widely used in various fields such as neurosurgery, otolaryngology, thoracic surgery, abdominal surgery, internal medicine, urology, orthopedics, and cosmetics, such as artificial skull bones, artificial nose bridges, gastric tubes, artificial peritoneum, artificial finger joints, artificial skin, soft tissue expanders, artificial breasts, etc.

Currently, based on the trend of the development of medical-grade silicone products and the demand of the medical market, different types and technological varieties are constantly expanding and upgrading, and in the future, more silicone rubber products will be put into various medical applications to meet the needs of different patients!