Have any of you heard about silicone rubber? It’s a special material used in many industries today. There are some interesting things about it. If you want to learn more, take a look at the explanation below.
What Makes Silicone Rubber Special?
This synthetic polymer has quite a lot of advantages. Generally, silicone has several abilities such as the following points:
- Weather resistance
- Aging resistance
- Low-temperature resistance and high-temperature resistance (up to 250°C).
Those are just some of the main advantages of silicone, but there are still several other advantages. The condition of silicone will remain stable if it is still in the range of 100° C-250° C, a fairly wide temperature range. This elastomer can provide the best durability compared to other types of elastomers.
Fire resistance in silicone is more reliable than other types of rubber such as natural rubber. The durability and stability of silicone is the main attraction that makes many people need this elastomer. If we talk about durability, silicone is resistant to moisture, sunlight, oil, and chemical exposure.
Non-toxic and Food Grade
Don’t worry when you want to use silicone for your various daily needs. One of the best properties of silicone is that it has non-toxic ingredients. With these traits, silicone is ideal for you to use as a material for medical equipment or products.
Not only for the medical industry, silicone is also suitable for other fields such as the food industry. Silicone is a food-grade material so it is safe for the needs of the food industry. Silicone hoses are commonly used as blood infusions, peristaltic pumps, and so on.
We can easily find these hoses in clinics, laboratories, or hospitals. Due to its grade, silicone hoses are often used also in the field of animal husbandry such as for milk hoses.
Is It Safe?
This material has been approved for its safety in the USA either for cookware applications or medical products. FDA approved it back in 1979. Silicone is approved in other regions such as Canada. Even so, the European Union considered labeling chemicals such as D4, D5, or D6 of concern in silicone rubber production.
Some studies also suggest that silicone can leach those chemicals when meet particular conditions or circumstances.
Solid vs Liquid Silicone Rubber
There are several variations of silicone, solid, and liquid forms. For you to know more about those two silicone forms, read more on the point below.
– Solid Silicone
This silicone exhibits a low level of fluidity and is cheaper than liquid silicone. The process is also cheaper than liquid because you can use it with various conventional equipment.
– Liquid Silicone
The opposite of solid silicone, liquid silicone exhibits a high level of fluidity. The products manufactured with liquid silicone are generally odorless, transparent, and safe and used for direct contact applications either with skin or food. Even so, we need expensive processing equipment for liquid silicone.
In addition to the above, silicone rubber also has a non-stick surface. Another advantage is that it is not a place for microorganisms to grow and is also resistant to rainwater.