Silicone rubber parts are a common area of application for silicone, and this article will focus on the performance of the material behind it.

Distinguished by appearance

The difference between liquid silicone rubber and solid silicone rubber is distinguished from their appearance. Liquid silicone rubber is liquid and has fluidity; solid silicone rubber is solid and has no fluidity.

 

Distinguish from the field of use

1. Liquid silicone rubber is generally used in baby products, kitchen supplies, and medical supplies, and can directly contact food and the human body.

 

2. Solid silicone rubber is generally used in daily necessities, industrial miscellaneous parts, electronic silicone parts, custom industrial silicone parts, automotive silicone parts, etc.

 

3. Safety of liquid silicone rubber and solid silicone rubber: Liquid silicone rubber is a food-grade material with high transparency and safety. Solid silicone rubber is a transparent material.

 

Distinguish from the molding method

1. Liquid silicone is injection molding liquid silicone rubber (LSR): the full name is injection molding liquid silicone rubber, and the vulcanization equipment is an injection molding machine. The injection molding machine has a very simple process, high product accuracy, high output (A/B glue is mixed in a few seconds at a certain temperature), saving labor, electricity, materials, and many other advantages, and can produce all high-temperature glue production. It is mainstream in the development of silicone rubber materials in the next year.

 

2. Solid silicone rubber molding is when the raw materials are solid pieces. When demoulding is similar to plastic products, it is also necessary to clean the mold.

 

 

Distinguish from the finished product

Liquid silicone rubber has high transparency, no peculiar smell, and the product has a glue injection port; solid silicone rubber has a transparent bottom, which has the fragrance of vulcanizing agent or other covering vulcanizing agent, and the product has no glue injection port.

 

What is the difference between liquid silicone rubber and solid silicone rubber molding process? The first thing to introduce is solid silicone rubber.

 

1. In industry, solid silicone rubber is made of water glass (sodium silicate) as raw material, hydrolyzed in an acidic medium to form a gel, and then made into silicone rubber through aging, washing, drying, and other processes. It is translucent according to the water content. or white solid. Commercially available products include irregular granular, spherical, and micro spherical silicone rubbers, which are often used as catalyst carriers in fluidized bed operations.

 

2. When used as a catalyst carrier, the silicone rubber is usually immersed in a solution containing catalytic active components, so that the solution is absorbed in the pores of the silicone rubber, and the active components are distributed on the surface of the silicone rubber after drying, activation and other procedures. The pore structure of silicone rubber has an important influence on the properties of the prepared supported catalyst, such as the pore volume and pore size distribution of silicone rubber. Traditionally, silicone rubber with an average pore size of less than 15-20 Å is called fine-pored silicone rubber; with an average pore size greater than 40-50 Å, it is called coarse-pored silicone rubber.

 

3. However, the pore structure is not conducive to the diffusion of reactant molecules, but it can reduce the utilization rate of the inner surface of the catalyst, and the product molecules generated deep in the pores are not easy to escape from the pores, which is easy to cause deep side reactions. The pore structure of silicone rubber is related to the manufacturing method and conditions, such as gel formation, aging, pH, temperature, time, etc. during washing. Commercially available silicone rubber can be expanded by the pore expansion treatment method. The commonly used method is to place it in an autoclave, add water or add a salt-containing aqueous solution (such as sodium carbonate, or sodium acetate) to heat and press it, for example: at 320 ° C, 10MPa hot-pressing treatment can change the specific surface area and average pore size of silicone rubber with 135m2/g and 123Å to 26.9m2/g and 508Å, respectively.

Process introduction of liquid silicone rubber

Liquid silicone rubber is commonly used in industry to de-sodium water glass to make silica sol by ion exchange method. For example, when making a (phosphorus-molybdenum-bismuth-oxygen)/silica catalyst for the production of acrylonitrile by ammoxidation of propylene, the solution containing the active component is mixed with silica sol, and the microsphere catalyst is made by spray drying; For food-grade daily necessities, maternal and child products.

 

Form of Silicone Rubber

 

1. Compounds: This ready-to-use material can be colored and catalyzed according to your processing equipment and end use.

 

2. Base material. The rubber base can be further compounded with pigments and additives to form a compound that meets your color and other manufacturing requirements.

 

3. Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR): This two-component liquid rubber system can be pumped into appropriate injection molding equipment and then heat cured into molded rubber parts.

 

4. Fluorosilicone rubber compound and base material: Fluorosilicone rubber maintains many key properties of silicone, in addition, it also has excellent resistance to chemicals, fuels, and oils.

 

The main chain is composed of alternating silicon and oxygen atoms and synthetic rubber with organic groups on the silicon atoms. The organic group in the molecule can be -CH3, -C2H3, or -C6H5, etc., correspondingly referred to as methyl, vinyl, or methyl phenyl silicone rubber. Silicone rubber is a kind of special rubber with high and low-temperature resistance (-60～250℃), ozone resistance, and good electrical insulation properties.

 

Silicone rubber is a special synthetic elastomer formed by mixing linear polysiloxane with reinforcing filler and vulcanizing under heating and pressure conditions. It has the perfect balance of mechanical and chemical properties to meet many of today’s demanding applications.

 

Liquid silicone rubber has the characteristics of high and low-temperature stability, inertness (odorless and odorless), transparency, ease of color, wide hardness range, chemical resistance, weather resistance, strong sealing performance, and compression deformation resistance.

 

The above description is about: What is the difference between the process flow of liquid silicone rubber and solid silicone rubber? Liquid silicone rubber is easier to process than solid silicone rubber. Due to the easy fluidity of liquid silicone rubber, it can be Molding, calendering, or extrusion, of course, this also reflects the advantages of its high production efficiency.

Silicone Materials & Silicone Rubber Parts

In fact, molded silicone parts are finished products that use both solid silicone and liquid silicone. The characteristics of silicone rubber parts will also change due to different materials. We decide on silicone rubber parts manufacturing according to the application scenarios of customized silicone parts.

Newtop silicone is a professional silicone rubber molding manufacturer, we provide professional silicone products and custom production services, with silicone injection molding manufacturing capabilities, silicone compression molding manufacturing capabilities, silicone overmolding manufacturing capabilities, etc. We focus on the production of silicone parts and can provide you with a one-stop first-class service. Contact us now for a free quote.