At Fakuma 2012, Wacker Chemie AG has presented its novel silicone rubber grades for manufacturing pacifiers and bottle nipples for infants and toddlers. Wacker’s new liquid silicone rubber grades are part of the Elastosil LR 3040 product family, which was specifically developed for manufacturing soft yet bite-resistant silicone pacifiers and bottle nipples.
The vulcanizates of the new liquid rubber grades have identical properties, differing only in their hardness: Elastosil LR 3040 vulcanizes to form elastomers of 30 Shore A hardness, while Elastosil LR 3040/45 forms a 45 Shore A elastomer.
After curing, Elastosil LR 3040 displays higher tear strength that that of comparable liquid rubber products, says Wacker. Pacifiers and bottle nipples made of the new liquid silicone rubber grades can withstand chewing by babies and infants. Like all Elastosil LR 3040 grades, the new liquid silicones feature very short curing times.
Another new grade is the Elastosil R plus 4020 solid silicone rubber. Wacker says the cured products of this new material exhibit even higher tear strength, at over 50 newtons per millimeter, measured as per ASTM D 624 B, which was previously unattainable with silicones in baby care applications, according to the company.
Elastosil R plus 4020 enables the manufacture of thin-walled and compliant pacifiers and bottle nipples which, at the same time, exhibit effective bite resistance. Low wall thicknesses make for greater freedom of design and facilitate the manufacture of orthodontically correct pacifiers and bottle nipples.
Wacker says all the new silicone rubber grades can be injection molded. They produce highly transparent cured rubber with strong mechanical properties. The post-cured rubbers are food-compatible and meet the requirements of the Federal German Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the French “Arrêté du 25 novembre 1992.”
