Bluestar Silicones/Graham Engineering cooperate on medical tubing R&D

US firm Graham Engineering Corporation will lend equipment, including an American Kuhne 1.5 in. Ultra RS silicone lab extruder, and extrusion processing expertise to create a silicone extrusion line at Bluestar Silicones’s 226,000 sq ft technical centre in York, for the collaboration. The site includes clean rooms and enhanced quality systems. It also serves as Bluestar’s global centre of excellence for healthcare, medical and long-term implant grade silicones.

This joint effort is said to benefit customers and prospective customers of both Bluestar Silicones and Graham Engineering Corporation by enabling them to interact with and learn more about silicone materials, silicone extrusion equipment, and processing, all in one location on the American Kuhne brand lab line.

Bob Waitt, Marketing Manager for Bluestar Silicones’s US medical market, said, “In concert with our silicone materials expertise, we expect the collaboration to further optimise our heat-cured rubber product processing performance, as well as to provide additional levels of technical service and training for our medical and pharmaceutical tubing customers.”

In addition to heat cured rubber, Bluestar Silicones offers a full range of silicone technologies for the medical and pharmaceutical markets including liquid silicone rubber (LSR), room-temperature vulcanised silicones (RTVs), skin adhesive tacky gels, cushioning gels and permanent adhesives for the healthcare market. The company also plans to launch three new medical, pharma, and implant grade heat cured rubber product lines in Q4 of 2016.

With worldwide operations headquartered in Lyon, France, Bluestar Silicones is a US$550 million worldwide silicones raw material manufacturer. The company is one of the world’s leading fully integrated global silicones manufacturers with more than 60 years of silicone expertise.

Graham Group acquired majority interest in American Kuhne in 2012, followed by Graham Engineering Corporation’s acquisition of Welex in June 2013. The privately held company headquartered in York, Pennsylvania, includes American Kuhne, Welex, and Graham Engineering.