The adhesion to metal surfaces of room temperature vulcanizable silicone rubber curable through condensation of silicon-bonded hydroxyls with silicon-bonded alkoxy radicals is improved by contacting the metal surface with aqueous solutions of sodium ammonium or potassium salts of chlorides, iodides, bromides, bicarbonates, sulfates, dihydrogenphosphates, monohydrogenphosphates, tetraborates, perchlorates, nitrates or nitrites, rinsing the surface, drying, thereafter applying the room temperature vulcanizable silicone rubber to the treated surface and allowing it to cure.
An implantable cardiac pacemaker which is enclosed in a titanium or titanium alloy housing with at least a portion of the housing coated with a silicone elastomer which both electrically and physiologically isolates the metal surface from the body while at the same time permitting the body tissue to act on the elastomer itself to provide a form of adhesion thereby to assist in stabilizing the pacemaker position within the body.
