Dow Corning expanding North America healthcare application centre

Midland, Michigan - Dow Corning is investing in “state-of-the-art” capabilities and new product technologies, and in particular is expanding its North American Healthcare Application Center in Midland, Michigan.

The company made the announcement during the MD&M West 2017 show earlier in February in Anaheim, California.

The centre, said Dow Corning, will be modernised with additional capabilities to ‘characterise” material performance for advanced application development.

The centre has been “significantly enhanced” with new metrology and moulding equipment, notably a 60T injection moulding machine and dosing pump, stress/strain equipment and a conditioning chamber, said the silicones manufacturer.

Materials such as liquid silicone rubber (LSR) and high consistency rubber (HCR) product lines, as well as other silicone elastomers and adhesives for healthcare applications are studied at the centre.

“Dow Corning continues to invest in infrastructure and capabilities that significantly benefit our healthcare customers,” said Roger Hendrick, industry specialist and application engineer, Dow Corning.

“These major enhancements to our application centre will yield data and knowledge that support product development,” he added.

Additionally, Dow Corning said it would continue to expand its portfolio with new medical-grade silicone solutions, such as soft skin adhesives. These improve patient experience with wearable devices.

“Innovation in material technologies is essential to enable tomorrow’s medical breakthroughs, particularly novel skin-adhered diagnostic and therapeutic devices,” said Marie Crane, healthcare marketing leader, Dow Corning.