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The success story of silicones

von Oliver Franssen, Heiko Bayerl

In the global elastomers market, silicone elastomers continue to be a niche with approximately 1.5 % of the global demand in rubber. However silicones grow faster than many industries and economies. Due to megatrends including aging population, for healthcare applications, environmental awareness in automotive and energy or consumer perception and legislation for example in consumer good applications.
While silicones have an almost universal set of physical properties for rubber applications, based on material cost considerations they are often not immediately selected - instead of judging by system costs. Successful silicone elastomer applications can be achieved, when engineers understand the silicone product features and creatively apply their benefits for new applications and designs. This ­paper will help to position silicone elastomers vs. functionally competing materials ­including rubber materials like FKM, ACM, EPDM or natural rubber and metal in a spring or thermoplastics and glass in optical applications. Examples show how specific properties of silicone elastomers lead to successful new applications winning against functional competition.