What do you get when you combine top technical talent with the speed and flexibility of a small company? At Specialty Silicone Products (SSP), you get a research and development team that can create innovative products with low to no R&D costs to customers. In an industry where the big players are huge multinational corporations, SSP is a small 80-person manufacturer with an R&D team that represents a significant percentage of our staff and delivers outsized value to our customers.
Substituting Specialty Bases in Medical Silicones
Led by Dr. Sarah Lewis, an experienced materials scientist, SSP’s R&D team includes Amelia Berry, Product Development Chemist, and Taylor Smith, Research Development Chemist. Recently, the three collaborated on a technical article, Substitutions for Specialty Bases in Medical Silicones, that appeared in the June 2023 edition of Rubber World magazine. (SSP’s EMI O-Rings are on the magazine’s cover). All of the research for this article was performed in-house using SSP’s laboratory equipment.
Developing Alternatives to Discontinued EMI Shielding
The work that Sarah’s team performs also supports our ability to provide innovative materials and products in low-to-medium order quantities (MOQs) at rapid speeds. For example, when a well-known EMI/RFI shielding material from another supplier was discontinued, SSP developed alternatives that meet ASTM E595 low outgassing requirements and pass vertical burn testing to UL 94 V-0 parameters. SSP developed its offsets in less than six months, including outside testing and internal scale-up trials.
Meeting Military Timetables and Cutting Qualification Costs
Two other examples also demonstrate our R&D team’s capabilities. First, SSP has developed military-grade products in less than a month. With our in-house testing, the R&D team can reformulate similar products quickly and meet urgent customer needs. Second, a customer who needed a unique cure profile for a dental application had a product ready for testing. Thanks to the efforts of our R&D team, SSP helped our customer qualify this product with its customer within weeks – and in less than half the time that a competitor offered.
The Right R&D for Specialty Silicones
SSP isn’t the largest or least expensive supplier in the silicone industry, but we deliver greater value through the outsized contributions of dedicated employees like our skilled R&D Team. If you’re looking for more than just a material supplier, we invite you to contact us.
