Swelling agent by MicroCare Medical is absorbed into the silicone and expanding it to a desired dimension, allowing for easy assembly.

MicroCare Medical, a division of MicroCare Corp, New Britain, CT, that supplies advanced cleaners, carrier fluids, coatings and lubricants to medical device designers, engineers and manufacturers, has announced its new capability to swell silicone to address the challenge that design engineers face in joining or assembling molded silicone components with rigid parts and barbed fittings. To address this common design challenge, MicroCare Medical developed a swelling agent that is absorbed into the silicone, expanding it to a desired dimension, which then allows easy assembly to the fitting or rigid part. The swelling agent then evaporates, returning the silicone component to its original size to create a secure connection without adhesives.

Silicone has a tacky surface that is inherently flexible and does not readily expand without mechanical or chemical help, and because of this, design engineers often find difficulty in attaching silicone tubing with barbed fittings or mating molded silicone parts with complex geometries to rigid plastic parts. Having an effective solution for joining silicone to rigid parts means designers can be more flexible in their specifications and can design without limitations.

The swelling agent that MicroCare Medical provides is a newer class of solvent that utilizes proprietary solvent  technology that swells silicone more effectively than hexane solvents, and meet today’s strict Environmental Protection Agency regulations. The swelling agent is quick and the process involves little “housekeeping.”