Silicone Gaskets and Seals

Silicone rubber is a flexible synthetic elastomer valued for its resilience, wide temperature capability and resistance to weathering, ozone, UV radiation and ageing.

These characteristics make silicone suitable for gaskets, seals and other non-metallic components used in demanding environmental and temperature conditions.

Silicone combines excellent flexibility with good compression recovery, allowing a gasket to conform to variations between mating surfaces and maintain sealing contact.

Its ability to remain flexible across a wide temperature range also makes it particularly useful where components are exposed to changing or extreme temperatures.

Silicone gaskets and seals can typically operate within a temperature range of approximately -60°C to +200°C, although the precise limits depend upon the silicone grade, thickness, mechanical load and operating environment.

Specialist silicone formulations can provide different temperature capabilities, so the required operating conditions should be considered before material selection.

Yes. Silicone provides excellent resistance to ozone, UV radiation, weathering and environmental ageing.

This makes silicone gaskets and seals particularly suitable for outdoor equipment, electrical enclosures, lighting systems and other components exposed to sunlight and changing weather conditions.

Silicone has low water absorption and can provide effective moisture sealing when appropriately compressed within a correctly designed joint.

It is therefore widely used in wet, humid and outdoor environments where resistance to moisture is important.

Yes. Silicone rubber provides good electrical insulating properties and is frequently used within electrical and electronic assemblies.

Silicone gaskets can combine electrical isolation with cushioning, sealing and temperature resistance within a single component.

Silicone provides useful resistance to many environmental conditions and certain chemicals, but it is not universally chemically resistant.

Performance can be limited with some oils, fuels, solvents and aggressive chemicals. The particular fluid, concentration, temperature and exposure period should therefore be considered before selecting silicone.

Yes, provided a suitable food-contact silicone grade is specified.

Food-grade silicone materials are available that comply with relevant food-contact requirements and are commonly used for gaskets and seals within food processing and packaging equipment. The required certification should be confirmed before manufacture.

Silicone is widely used within medical and healthcare applications because suitable specialist grades can provide useful temperature, cleanliness and biocompatibility characteristics.

However, medical applications can involve specific regulatory and material requirements, so the required silicone grade and compliance specifications should be confirmed before manufacture.

Both silicone and EPDM provide excellent resistance to weathering, ozone and UV exposure.

Silicone generally offers a substantially wider operating temperature range, particularly at high and low temperatures. EPDM can be a more economical option for many water, steam and outdoor applications where extreme temperature performance is not required.

Silicone provides superior temperature capability and resistance to weathering, ozone and UV exposure.

Nitrile rubber generally provides much better resistance to petroleum-based oils, fuels and greases. The most appropriate material therefore depends upon whether temperature and environmental performance or oil and fuel resistance is the primary requirement.

Yes. Bluemay Weston can supply silicone gaskets and seals with self-adhesive backing where required.

Adhesive backing can assist with accurate positioning and help retain the gasket during assembly before final compression or fixing.

Yes. Bluemay Weston manufactures bespoke silicone gaskets and seals to customer drawings, dimensions, samples and specifications.

Components can be produced in simple circular and rectangular formats as well as complex profiles incorporating apertures, fixing holes, slots and other features.

Bluemay Weston manufactures silicone gaskets and seals from sheet material using precision punching and water jet cutting techniques.

Punching provides an efficient manufacturing method for suitable repeat production quantities, whilst water jet cutting is particularly useful for prototypes, lower-volume production, larger components and complex profiles where dedicated tooling may not be appropriate.

Bluemay Weston can manufacture silicone gaskets and seals in quantities ranging from prototypes and small development batches through to high-volume production runs of many thousands or millions of components, depending on component size, material specification and customer requirements.