Why is silicone used as a biomaterial?
Silicone is the generic description for an entirely synthetic polymer containing a repeating Si-O backbone. The organic groups attached to the silicon atom via silicon-carbon bonds define the class of silicone. The most common example is poly-dimethylsiloxane or PDMS (Figure 4). This synthetic polymer has a repeating [(CH3)2SiO] unit. This is the basic building block of silicones. Depending upon the number of repeat units in the chain and the amount of tying the chains together, six classes of commercially important products can be produced. They are: fluids, emulsions, compounds, lubricants, resins, and elastomers or rubbers.Silicone elastomers are crosslinked fluids whose three-dimensional structure is much more intricate than a gel. There is very little free, non-crosslinked fluid in the matrix. Amorphous silica is frequently added to the matrix to give greater reinforcement of the network and thereby increase the strength of the article. And silicones used as nerve guidance channel
