# Silicone and Elastomers in Manufacturing
Elastomers are specified by compound and durometer rather than by family, and silicone, EPDM, Viton, and nitrile are selected against the chemistry they will see. A request naming rubber has not specified a material.

# Silicone and Elastomers in Manufacturing

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Elastomers are specified by compound and durometer rather than by family, and silicone, EPDM, Viton, and nitrile are selected against the chemistry they will see. A request naming rubber has not specified a material.

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Elastomer selection is a chemistry decision dressed as a materials one, and the failure is always the fluid rather than the load. The programme argument is in [manufacturing SEO](/manufacturing-seo).

## The compounds and what selects them

**An elastomer compound is selected against the fluid and the temperature it will see**, not against a strength requirement.

**Silicone covers wide temperature range and poor oil resistance.** **Nitrile covers oil and fuel and poor ozone resistance.** **EPDM covers water, steam, and weather and fails immediately in petroleum.** **Viton covers aggressive chemistry and high temperature at a considerably higher cost.**

Choosing wrongly produces a seal that swells, hardens, or dissolves in service, and it is the most common elastomer failure by a wide margin.

## Durometer is the other half

**Durometer records hardness on a Shore scale**, and it changes sealing force, compression set, and how the part installs.

A drawing calling a compound without a durometer has specified half the material, and a supplier quoting without asking has guessed at the half that governs the fit.

**Compression set is what determines whether a seal still seals after a year** under load, and it is a compound property rather than a durometer one, which is why the two are stated together.

## What drives the quote

Elastomer work is usually moulded rather than machined, so tooling dominates the first order and the per-part cost afterwards is small. That inverts the arithmetic on prototypes: **tooling cost governs a low-volume elastomer quote**, and a buyer expecting machining economics is surprised.

**Platinum-cure silicone is the regulated-service grade**, used where extractables matter, and it is specified for pharmaceutical and food-contact work covered at [pharmaceutical manufacturing](/industries/pharmaceutical).

## What a capability page should state

**A capability page must state process, materials, tolerances, capacity, certifications, and industries served**, and elastomers belong there by compound and durometer range.

State the compounds run, the durometer range, whether tooling is made in-house, and which cure systems are available. Where the work is regulated, name the compliance the compound carries rather than the family.

The structure is at [capability page structure](/content/capability-page-structure) and the cluster reasoning at [materials](/materials).

## Common questions

**Why does the fluid decide the material?**

Because chemical attack rather than mechanical load is what fails a seal. Strength rarely decides an elastomer selection.

**What durometer should a seal be?**

The one the groove and sealing force require. It is a design input rather than a supplier preference and it belongs on the drawing.

**Is silicone always food safe?**

No. Compliance belongs to the compound and its cure system, not to silicone as a family, and platinum cure is the usual requirement.

**Why is Viton so expensive?**

Fluoroelastomer chemistry. It is specified where nothing cheaper survives the service rather than as an upgrade.
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Source: https://manufacturingseo.ai/materials/silicone-elastomers/
Last reviewed: 2026-08-11
Author: ManufacturingSEO.ai