Silicone touch pads are ideal for many applications, but especially for industries that require cleanliness and sanitizing on a regular basis, such as medical facilities and hospitals. It’s much easier to clean and sanitize silicone touch pads than touch screens, making silicone the superior choice for medical applications.
To clean and sanitize your touch pads, follow these tips:
- Use Rubbing Alcohol: The easiest, most common and most popular method for sterilizing medical-grade silicone is to use simple rubbing alcohol. It can destroy bacteria as well as dust or particles. This makes for a good option when you need to frequently clean a keypad or other device in between uses.
- Put it into an Autoclave: If you have surgical instruments, medical implants or forceps, place them in an autoclave. This system utilizes the power of steam to sterilize platinum-cured LSR in order to destroy microorganisms.
- Try Gamma Radiation: Use only under certain circumstances. Inquire from the manufacturer if the product is safe for this method.
- Use Dry Heat: This method will kill off certain types of bacteria, used in operating temperatures between -45 degrees F and 450 degrees F.
Why Touch Pads Over Touch Screens?
Touch screens are all the rage right now, for use on anything from phones to devices. However, from a cleaning and sanitizing perspective, they’re not ideal. Think about all the fingerprint marks you have to clean! Here are some factors to consider silicone touch pads over touch screens.
Touch pads are…
More durable: A touch screen can get scratched by finger nails or debris, while silicone rubber keypads can stand up to that kind of abuse. If you have scratches on a touch screen, it becomes harder to press buttons or even view the screen itself. And forget about using the touch screen if you’re wearing gloves. Feel free to wear even the thickest of gloves on silicone rubber keypads. Plus, you can use silicone pads in extreme temperatures without losing functionality.
Resistant to fingerprint marks: Smudge marks make it more difficult to view the selections or press buttons. Those marks even show up if you’ve just washed your hands. Why pause several times a day to clean off those finger print marks? With silicone keypads, even if you transfer oil marks from your fingertips, function won’t be impacted.
Great for the click response: No one can deny how satisfying it can be to hear that distinct click when depressing a button. This doesn’t happen with a touchscreen, whereby you often have to repeatedly jab a button to get it to respond. Silicone buttons give you a distinct click or snap to advise you of the correct selection on the first pass. You can even adjust the snap ratio.
Contact Si-Tech
Backed by more than 75 years of experience in silicone keypad design and molding, you can purchase the highest quality products from us with confidence. To learn more about our silicone touch pads and how to sanitize them, contact us now.
