Elkem builds on health care offerings

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.—Elkem Silicones USA Corp. is on a "full court press" into the long-term implant side of the health care market, said Mike Goglia, health care market manager.

That growth means additional products and an expanded support staff, Goglia said in an interview at the recent Healthcare Elastomer Conference in Schaumburg, Ill.

"We have a full product portfolio for that marketplace, for long term. That's LSR, adhesives, RTVs and HCR," he said. "We initially started with just LSR, and we continue to expand into that marketplace."

Elkem is starting out with services and sales support for the market segment, as well as helping customers getting products off the ground, Goglia said.

"We know it's 5-7 years before something goes commercial generally, but we've got a lot of irons in the fire," Goglia said. "We've always had lofty expansion plans, and they continue."

One step in that expansion is the new Silbione Med ADH 4200, a one-part, tin-free adhesive. Using tin as a catalyst isn't biocompatible in many applications, Goglia said. The new adhesive uses an undisclosed non-tin catalyst that gives the product a wider flexibility in the marketplace.

"We've seen in comparisons to the benchmarks that are out there that the adhesion is better," he said. "We've seen some really good adhesion to various substrates, whether that be metal or plastic, and at a faster cure speed, which can increase throughput for our end customers."

The new adhesive cures about 50 percent faster in most cases without heat or humidity, Goglia said, where many one-part adhesives require both in a moisture cure. The new adhesive doesn't require a moisture chamber to cure.

While Med ADH 4200 is made for long-term implant applications, Elkem also will launch a non-long-term implant version of the same product, he said. That version is the same product, but each batch does not have to be tested for biocompatibility for greater than 30 day implants.

Within the LTI market, drug delivery has been a large market, including applications such as working with steroid delivery, chemotherapy treatment or a pacemaker, Goglia said. While Elkem has its base polymers to work with, the company has been developing custom polymers for customers. Some drugs used in the health care marketplace interact negatively with the platinum system, and the company has adjusted its cure kinetics to get an effective result.

"That's been a custom approach based on customer-by-customer, because all of them are different. All of them require properties that are different, too," he said.

Another part of its health care offering is its LSR Select process, which Elkem debuted at the Medical Design & Manufacturing West show in Anaheim, Calif. It alters how two-part systems are mixed, which can provide a better cure speed, Goglia said.

"If you can get a 10 percent improvement on productivity for a molder, that's a big deal," he said.

Elkem also launched a new medical grade high consistency rubber line, the Silbione HCRA 4500 series. The two-component platinum cure product is higher performing with lower extractables, he said. It is available in durometer range of 20-80 Shore A.

Elkem also has expanded its reach geographically by adding two new research and development support positions on the West Coast, Goglia said. The move provides additional assistance for health care customers in western locations.

"We see our customer base is in that area and needed some additional local support," he said. "We have resources that are in place in the West Coast time zones now and not just supporting it out of South Carolina."

The new hires are located in northern California, with the possibility for more in the future as the health care market momentum continues to grow, he said. Company-wide, Elkem has brought on 11 more employees this year with plans to hire about 14 more. Among those are three new sales people to support different regions in the West Coast and Midwest. The company's North America silicones manufacturing and R&D facility in York, S.C., which was built in 2012, employs about 140. The location includes a Class 7 and a Class 8 clean room.

"We've seen a lot of growth, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down at all," Goglia said.