In the dynamic world of medical technology, choosing the right material is not only a question of functionality, but also of patient safety and product innovation. Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR) has proven to be a key material in the development and manufacture of medical devices.

Thanks to its outstanding properties, such as biocompatibility, sterilizability and durability, LSR has become an indispensable component in the manufacture of a wide range of medical devices.

This blog post explores the unique benefits of LSR, its applications in medical technology, the manufacturing process, and much more.

This year marks an exciting journey for us, as we participate in three major international trade shows. These events are pivotal for us to showcase our expertise in precision rubber manufacturing, a testament to German engineering's precision and quality. Here's where you can join us in 2024.

Christmas greetings from Hepako!

As the year draws to a close, we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to our valued customers, partners and everyone who has been part of the Hepako journey. In the spirit of the festive season, we wish you joy, peace and moments of warmth with your loved ones. May the coming year be filled with new opportunities, health and success. Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to serving you with renewed energy in the coming year.

Best regards,

Your Hepako team

In the early days, before focusing on the production of precision rubber products, Hepako GmbH manufactured hydraulic accumulators and the accompanying rubber membranes indispensable for their function. At that time, Hans-Dieter Partosch, co-founder and managing director of Hepako GmbH for many years, published an article on the importance of small accumulators and examples of their application in the magazine Fluid - a German journal for hydraulics, pneumatics and component parts (edition Dec. 1979). Today's blog returns to this interesting and informative article, which has lost none of its relevance over the years. The original article is available as a download.

It is with great pleasure that we announce that Hepako GmbH will also be present at the Swiss Medtech Expo. This important trade fair for the medical industry will take place on September 12 and 13, 2023 at the Lucerne Exhibition Center. As a renowned contract manufacturer of high-precision elastomer parts for medical technology, we are eager to present our expertise to a wide audience.

You are cordially invited to visit us at our booth F2199 in Hall 2. There we will exhibit our high-precision elastomer parts, including our specialties such as small parts with complex geometries, micro parts and rubber composite parts.

Technical data sheets or material data sheets are part of routine business in all industrial sectors. They play an important role in the elastomer sector as the users of the data sheets are often very reliant on the information they contain. The topics under discussion in this blog posting are: How helpful are the material data sheets in reality? The problems associated with them and what to look out for when performing an evaluation. In addition, we look back at the tragedy of the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster and how it was linked to this issue.

We are pleased to announce that Hepako GmbH will be present at this year's medical technology trade fair Medtec LIVE with T4M in Nuremberg. The show will take place from May 23 to May 25, 2023, and will be an excellent opportunity to showcase our high-precision elastomer parts and manufacturing expertise in medical technology.

We invite all trade show visitors to visit us at booth 1-321d in hall 1 and get to know us. We are looking forward to interesting conversations and new contacts in the medical device industry.

If you're in the manufacturing industry, you've probably heard about micro molding. But do you know what it actually means? Micro molding is the process of creating small parts with precise dimensions using high-precision molding techniques. Unlike traditional molding, micro molding is capable of producing parts with extremely tight tolerances and intricate geometries.

While plastic micro molding is the most common form of micro molding, there's another type of micro molding that's very important to many industries: rubber/silicone micro molding.

In this blog post, we'll discuss everything you need to know about rubber/silicone micro molding.

Spring has arrived, and with it comes the joy of Easter!

At Hepako, we are grateful for the opportunity to work with so many great people across the medical industry all around the world.

May this season bring you renewed hope, happiness, and peace.

Happy Easter from our team to yours!

Molded rubber parts are used in many sensitive applications, and as such potentially could have a direct effect on the health of humans. Customers with business in the food sector have special requirements both for the molded rubber parts and the materials that go into making them. FDA compliance is important in this sector. It is also mandatory. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the USA’s federal agency responsible for protecting public health. Its provisions function to ensure the safety of products intended for the American market. However, its regulations are also recognised globally. In this blog post, we will take a closer look at the FDA and examine the significance of FDA compliance in the manufacture of molded rubber parts.

From February 07 to 09, this year's MD&M West 2023 trade show will take place at the Anaheim Convention Center.

MD&M West brings the entire medical device design-to-market community together in a setting that fosters interaction and inspiration. With 1,400 exhibitors from around 70 countries and 300,000 square feet of expo floor, it is probably the most important medtech trade show in the US.

Visit us at booth 1926, where we will be exhibiting with our cooperation partner West-Tech Materials.

Come by and take the chance to learn more about us and discuss interesting projects.

As a contract manufacturer for precision rubber parts, we are the first choice for many customers worldwide when it comes to challenging projects.

We would be happy to support you, too, in the development and implementation of your ideas.

Contact us at any time if you would like to get to know us better. Our various trade show participations in 2023 offer an ideal opportunity to do so.

The following blog post gives you an overview of our trade show participations this year.

We would be delighted to welcome you to one of these shows and discuss exciting projects with you.

At the end of an eventful year for all of us, we wish them a Merry Christmas and a reflective time.
We wish you all the best for the new year, good luck and good health.

We ourselves are also taking a little break and enjoying the holidays. We will be back on 02 January and look forward to being there for you again.

On November 2 & 3, this year's MD&M Minneapolis trade show will take place at the Convention Center Minneapolis, MN. Hepako Precision Rubber Parts will be on site as an exhibitor.

Visit us at booth 2808, where we will be exhibiting with our cooperation partner Josco Melius, Inc.

Come by and take the chance to learn more about us and discuss interesting projects.

In this post, we are taking a look at the different mechanical characteristics of rubber and rubber compounds, respectively. In addition, we are investigating the underlying test methods.

Chloroprene rubber is a material that combines many favorable properties. These include, for example, good static and dynamic mechanical properties, decent heat, weather and ozone resistance, and average oil resistance.

In this respect, chloroprene rubber was one of the most important synthetic rubbers for a long time. Nowadays, chloroprene is being replaced in many applications by rubbers that have better values in terms of specific, targeted properties.

Chloroprene compounds are also known to many under the name Neoprene®, under which they are marketed by DuPont.

Due to its interesting property profile and its still widespread use, we would like to take a closer look at the material chloroprene in the following blog post, explain why the name chloroprene is not entirely correct chemically, and describe its mechanical characteristics as well as its thermal and chemical resistance in detail.

You might already be familiar with the various characteristics of rubber materials and some of the testing methods.

For example, there is hardness, which is the resistance of a rubber to the penetration of another harder substance. There is also tear strength. It describes the force opposing the further tearing of a rubber piece that has already been torn. Of course, there is also compression set, which is another valuable characteristic of rubber parts.

But why is compression set so important? Is it only critical for specific items like seals and gaskets, or is it relevant for all materials? When evaluating the rubber parts that you need, a compression set is an essential characteristic to consider. Here’s why.

From 03 to 05 May this year we are going to exhibit at the medical technology show Medtec Live with T4M in Stuttgart.

Find out more in this blog post.

Would you like to meet HEPAKO and discuss new projects or exchange ideas?

Mark your calendars and visit us at one of the following trade shows in the spring:

• MD&M West (April 12-14 2022 | Anaheim, CA, United States)
• MedtecLIVE with T4M (May 03-05 2022 | Stuttgart, Germany)

More information soon!

HEPAKO – Your contact manufacturer for challenging rubber parts.

Silicone is not only probably the best-known elastomer material among the general population, but is also widely used in various industries and medical applications due to its unique properties. A major strength of silicone rubber is its resistance to both very cold and very hot temperatures.

In applications requiring resistance to gasoline, fuel or oil, the elastomers NBR or FKM are often used. However, these two rubbers do not have the temperature properties of silicone and show weaknesses, especially at cold temperatures. Silicone rubber itself, however, is not resistant to fuels and oils, or only to a limited extent.

Fluorosilicone, which can be formed by introducing fluorine-containing groups to the polymer chain of silicone rubber, closes this gap and combines the excellent temperature properties of silicone rubber with resistance to fuel and oils.

In the following blog post, we go into more detail about the properties of fluorosilicone and describe the key differences between conventional silicone and fluorosilicone.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas, happy holidays and a happy, successful and above all healthy New Year 2022.

Enjoy your time and stay healthy.

We will also treat ourselves to a few quiet days.
From 23.12.2021 to 02.01.2022 the Hepako will therefore be closed. We will be back for you from 03.01.2022.

We look forward to being here for you again next year.

You might not be aware, but rubber diaphragms are an essential component for an assortment of applications.

They provide a superior seal for pumps, valves, regulators, actuators, hydro-accumulators, and many other parts. Not only are they versatile, but they also come in several different designs, with each of them containing its own specific pros and cons.

When choosing the right rubber diaphragm for your needs, you need to consider which design will be suitable for what you plan to use it for. For example, are you best to go with a dished diaphragm that is designed to stretch to its maximum height, or should you choose a more versatile design such as the rolling diaphragm?

If you’re not sure where to start, here is everything you need to know about the variety of rubber diaphragm designs that are available.

In a couple of days, the experts of the international healthcare industry will finally travel to Düsseldorf again. Then the restart in presence format is on the agenda for the world's leading medical trade fair MEDICA and COMPAMED, the leading international supplier trade fair. From Monday to Thursday (November 15 to 18), around 3,000 exhibitors at MEDICA 2021 and almost 500 exhibitors at COMPAMED 2021 from a total of 70 nations will be flying the flag in the exhibition halls.

Our CEO Dr. Christoph Partosch will be on site to visit COMPAMED.

Around the forties of the 20th century, butyl rubber (often just called “butyl”) was developed and brought to market by Stand Oil of New Jersey (now Exxon Mobil). The development of the thermoplastic polyisobutylene (PIB) by the German company BASF served as an important basis.

Butyl is generally a fairly flexible material, but in practice it is used primarily because of three special properties: its low gas permeability, its excellent damping over a wide temperature range, and its very good elasticity in cold conditions. The variants bromobutyl or chlorobutyl are frequently used, although for simplicity's sake we often just refer to "butyl".

In the following blog post, we will go into both the general and special properties of butyl, bromobutyl and chlorobutyl and list the most important fields of application.

Did you know that excessive heat can erode rubber materials over time?

Extreme temperatures can lead to degraded performance and, in some cases, premature failure. Natural rubber, for example, should never be used in applications where the temperature remains at 158 degrees Fahrenheit (70 degrees Celsius) or higher.

So what is the alternative? For applications that take place in high temperatures, synthetic rubber grades can be chemically manufactured to withstand temperatures above 300 degrees Celsius or 570 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you need a rubber material that can withstand high temperatures, consider using one of the compounds featured in this blog post. 

Impairment of hearing and hearing loss are a major problem worldwide that does not receive enough attention. This is the conclusion reached by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its "Report on Hearing". According to the report, around 1.5 billion people worldwide currently suffer from hearing loss. 430 million people are affected by severe and limiting hearing loss. According to the WHO forecast, the number of people with hearing impairment is expected to rise to 2.5 billion by 2050, with 700 million of them requiring medical care. In its report, WHO addresses the global extent of hearing impairment, describes causal and preventive factors of hearing loss, and identifies effective interventions, and health challenges and solutions. In this blog post, we will present key findings from the report.

Due to the Corona pandemic, there is again a great deal of uncertainty among organizers, exhibitors and visitors as to which trade shows can take place this year.

Here you will find an overview of the current status of important (European) medical technology trade fairs.

Impressive progress is continuously being made in medical research. Ever more sophisticated treatment methods are helping to alleviate or remedy the suffering of many people worldwide. In the field of medical technology, highly complex devices are developed and sophisticated systems are created to assist in the treatment of various diseases or injuries.

Molded rubber parts are highly important in medical technology. They are used there either as a standalone medical product or as a component of medical devices. As devices become more advanced, so do the demands placed on molded rubber parts and the materials used, which are often exposed to extreme temperatures and aggressive chemicals or medications. 

Which materials are particularly suitable and commonly used for medical device applications will be covered in this blog post. 

Hepako GmbH, which specializes in the production of precision rubber parts, has expanded its site in Raisting, Germany. The extension on the existing site was completed in spring 2020. The operating area could thus be almost doubled.

More information can be found in this blog post.

When a molded rubber part has to withstand exposure to a highly aggressive chemical environment or perform well in high temperatures, FKM is your right choice. However, for some applications, even FKM reaches its limits and cannot be deployed due to exceptionally aggressive chemicals or extremely high operating temperatures. In these special cases, engineers and users turn to FFKM. This material that incorporates special perfluorinated monomers, in other words, entirely hydrogen-free monomers, has been developed to resist virtually all media, and withstand very high temperature stresses. It is known to many by the tradename Kalrez marketed by DuPont de Nemours.

In this blog post, we will be looking in some detail at the properties of FFKM and discuss how, even for FFKM, there can be important differences in its thermal and chemical performance.

A while ago in our blog, we wrote about NBR (nitrile rubber) describing in detail its properties and applications. One of the drawbacks of NBR we mentioned was its modest heat performance, making it unsuitable for a whole swathe of applications. Hence, around the 1980s, HNBR was developed, a material that boosts the benefits of NBR with improved heat resistance. Catalytic hydrogenation of NBR produces the nitrile rubber HNBR, which in many respects outperforms conventional nitrile rubber NBR. However, the catalytic hydration procedure is not straightforward, resulting in HNBR compounds being considerably more costly. In this post, we investigate the properties of HNBR.

Each year, there are several million new cases of dementia. Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. It is estimated that presently approximately 50 million people have dementia.   The World Health Organization, WHO, is forecasting a threefold increase by 2050. The consequences for those affected and their families are immense.

The illness is still incurable. However, research regularly presents new findings on dementia that lead to new treatment approaches and produce important information on preventive measures.

A broad-based study in Taiwan recently investigated the connection between hearing loss and dementia. The conclusions of the researchers together with the role that hearing aids could play in the battle against dementia is the focus of this blog post. 

Superb resistance to aggressive chemicals and excellent behavior at high temperatures has made fluoroelastomer highly important in a wide range of industrial sectors. Articles made of FKM are used in many applications and characterized by a long service life and excellent properties under difficult environmental conditions, and good performance under dynamic load stress. The first fluoroelastomer was manufactured in 1955 and has since been known primarily under the brand name Viton, marketed by the US chemical company DuPont (now DuPont de Nemours).  

In today’s blog post, we outline the different types of FKM and delve into the details of the mechanical, thermal and chemical properties of the material.

Hydraulics are crucial across many technical applications. Basically, they are utilized whenever a system is required to transmit a force or energy with the aid of a liquid. Examples in which hydraulics provide power transmission are motor vehicles, agricultural machinery, brake systems, machine tools, presses, injection molding machines or lifting platforms. Rubber parts are essential for hydraulic systems to function. Without rubber molded parts such as seals, scrapers and O-rings, there would be no hydraulic systems. In this blog post, we discuss the basics of molded rubber parts required by hydraulic systems, describing the special demands placed on the performance of the elastomers, and the main materials suitable for use in hydraulics.

The automotive industry is a major consumer of technical moldings and other rubber products. Its specific requirements, particularly regarding resistance to mineral oils, fuels and greases, have made NBR a vitally important raw material in this sector. Acrylonitrile butadiene rubber, developed by Bayer in the 1930s, in short: nitrile rubber, is an excellent solution for many applications due to its properties and therefore will be the focus of this blog post.

Irrespective of whether a molded rubber part functions as a stand-alone medical device or is a component in a medical device – the medical technology market is heavily dependent on molded rubber parts. The manufacture of rubber parts requires a range of considerations to be taken into account, both in terms of the production technology and organization, to ensure compliance in this safety-sensitive sector. What exactly suppliers to the medical technology sector need to pay particular attention to is explained in this blog entry. In addition to production-specific challenges, we take a close look at aspects such as biocompatibility, quality management and cleanroom production.

Hepako GmbH has recently become a member of VDMA Medical Technology. VDMA Medical Technology is part of the German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA) and forms a platform for all aspects of production technology in the medical industry. The network targets the entire value chain, from material suppliers to mechanical engineering and medical technology manufacturers, right up to applications in hospitals.

Due to its all-rounder properties, the material ethylene propylene diene methylene rubber (EPDM) has found extensive application in a wide range of industrial areas. After its introduction in the 1960s, the use of EPDM increased rapidly, and it is now one of the most common elastomers.  Its versatility and good resistance against weather have made EPDM the material of choice for technical rubber products.   

In this blog post, we will discuss the various properties of EPDM in detail.

We are going to exhibit at this year´s T4M. The trade show for medical devices takes place in Stuttgart from 7 - 9 May.

Please find more information in this blog post.

While the majority of elastomers like EPDM, FKM or NBR are unknown to the end user, silicone rubber is a material just about everyone knows. Although silicone rubber is inferior to other elastomers when it comes to mechanical properties, there are applications in virtually every industry. The reason for is explained in this blog.

Rubber parts, or elastomers, are irreplaceable in many areas of our lives; yet most people know little about them so it’s fair to say the subject remains vague and mysterious. In this blog our hope is to open up the subject and provide a new insight for as broad an audience as possible. Therefore, this first article is about general topics around rubber parts.