Elastomers or conductive rubber keypads are compression-molded silicone rubber actuators with or without a conductor on the bottom of each key; and offer an alternative look and feel to more common polyester or polycarbonate overlays. They, too, are always used in conjunction with a printed circuit board or flexible circuit. It is the flexible circuit or PCB that provides the circuitry traces while the rubber keypad acts as the overlay and shorting pad.

Characteristics and advantages of silicone rubber include:

• Stability over a wide temperature range; excellent weatherability
• Moisture resistance
• Environmental sealing
• Easy to add color
• Screen printable
• Chemical, oil and solvent resistance
• Corrosion resistance to chemicals and ozone
• High compression
• High resilience
• Wide hardness range, 10-80 Shore A
• Vibration and shock absorption
• Multi-durometer capacity
• Complex key shapes
• Wide range of actuation forces and travel
• Injection molded hard/soft urethane key tops
• High thermal conductivity
• Very high electrical resistance
• Low tooling cost
• UL 94VO options