subject: Moulding Silicone Rubber Can Be A Complicated Process [print this page] Moulding silicone rubber requires a professional workforce. There are four different ways to mould silicone - extruding moulding, transfer moulding, compression moulding, liquid silicone injection moulding.
All these processes use heat to cure the silicone.
Extrusion silicone moulding
Extrusion silicone moulding is used silicone tubing or reel dispensing products.
The silicone rubber moulding machines continuously feed silicone through a shaping machine.
Compression silicone moulding
The silicone material is placed between two heated plates that contain the part image, called the core and cavity,and closed.
Transfer silicone moulding
Transfer silicone moulding is used for specially formulated silicones.
It is placed in a chamber and heated to a liquid, and then a plunger presses the material through a sprue to a runner system and into the mould cavities.
Silicone Injection moulding
This is an automated process, and is, therefore, complex.
The material is supplied into drums that are sealed and manufactured to Six Sigma quality levels.
What is the main chemical element in silicone rubber?
Silicone rubber is partially made from the most abundant electropositive element in the Earths crust silicon (Si).
It is combined with a catalyst in order to make the silicone.
The metalloid in its natural form contains 92.2% of the isotope 28 and 4.7% of silicon 29 and 3.1% of silicon 30.
Chemically, silicon is similar to metals. It is nearly as electropositive as tin and more positive than lead.
Applications
Silicon is the main component in many everyday materials, such as glass, ceramics, cement, most semiconductor devices and silicones.
Silicone rubber is often confused with the element silicon.
How is silicone manufactured?
Silicone is made from silicon dioxide, or silica, found in nature as quartz or common beach sand.
The principal raw material is silicon (Si), the second most common element in the Earths crust. Most commonly, it is found combined with oxygen in the form of silica.
Silica (or silicone dioxide) is found in nature as quartz or beach sand. It can be reduced to produce silicon metal which is then reacted with other compounds to produce silicones.
Silica is then placed in a Silicon Furnace, where carbon electrical arcs react at high temperatures, driving the oxygen out of the silica, combining with the carbon to form carbon dioxide and leaving silicon metal.
When combined with a catalyst, long-chain silicone molecules cross-link together to make the different forms of silicone used in everyday materials.
Silicone is resistant to extreme temperatures, degradation by UV rays, water, and has a range of other useful characteristics.
It can be produced in many forms including silicone fluids, resins, liquid rubbers and solid rubbers.
Silicone rubber plays a significant role in nearly every industry such as electronics, transportation, chemicals, textiles, foods, cosmetics, and construction.
In short, silicone rubber is vital for modern living.
Silicone Engineering
Silicone Engineering is continually developing new methods of using silicone for customers in order to maintain and grow its business with them.
It is the companys ongoing mission to be creative and to help all its customers stay ahead of their competition, by gaining competitive advantage through the use of its innovative silicone products.
