Properties of Silicone Rubber

We will always develop better technologies
and products with a research attitude.

Overview of the Silicone Rubber

  • Non toxic

    Silicone rubber is physiologically inert, and is thus used for baby nipple and stoppers in medical application. Silicone rubber is also very ideal elastomer for making swimming caps and goggles.

  • Heat Resistance

    Heat resistance of silicone rubber is the one of its most excellent properties and provides the basis for its creation. Silicone rubber is far better than organic rubbers in terms of heat resistance. At 150℃, almost no alterations of properties take place that it may be used semi permanently. Furthermore, silicone rubber withstands use for over 10,000 consecutive hours even at 200℃ and, if used for a shorter term, it may also be used at 300℃ as well. Boasting this excellent heat resistance, silicone rubbers are widely used to manufacture rubber components and parts used in high-temperature places.

  • Cold Resistance

    Cold resistance of silicone rubber is the finest among organic rubbers. It creation of silicone rubbers. Natural and ordinary rubbers demonstrate significant changes in formation depending on temperatures. They become soft at high temperatures and hard at low temperatures so that they may not be able to used any more. While other organic rubbers may only be used up to -20℃ or -30℃, silicone rubber maintains its elasticity between -55℃ and -70℃. Some of the products even withstand temperatures as extremely low as under -100℃.

  • Weatherability

    Silicone rubber has superb ozone resistance. Due to corona-discharged ozone, other organic rubbers become soften at a higher speed, but silicone rubber is rarely affected. Furthermore, even long-term exposures to UV rays, winds, or rain silicone rubber's physical properties will not be changed substantially.

  • Electric Properties

    Silicone rubber is being used for insulation materials at high temperature with its superior insulation properties. It is particularly known for wide range in temperature and volume resistance between 1014Ω·cm and 1016Ω·cm Silicone rubber experiences lowest change in performance in wet condition and is the best fit for being used as insulation materials. By adding special conductive fillers, conductive silicone may also be manufactured. In particular, silicone rubber is strongly resistant against corona discharge compares to others, while being widely used for insulation purposes in high voltage environments.

  • Electric Conductivity

    Conductive silicone rubber is a compound comprising conductive materials such as carbon black, silver and copper. Depending on the type of silicone rubber, they range in resistance level from a few Ω·cm to 103Ω·cm One of the properties is that its electric properties are not much affected by variance in temperatures. No rubber materials are not found yet to match the electric properties of silicone rubber over 200℃. Conductive silicone rubber is also being used for keyboard interfaces, antistatic parts, and shield materials for high voltage cables.

  • Radiation Resistance

    Compares to other organic rubbers, ordinary (dimethyl) silicone rubber has no special performance in terms of anti radiation. However, methyl phenyl silicone rubber adopting phenyl group in polymer molecules does have radiation resistance to be used for cables at nuclear power plants and connectors.

  • Steam Resistance

    Silicone rubber absorbs only 1% of moisture even after experiencing long exposure to water without being affected in mechanical strength or electric properties. Generally, silicone rubber does not deteriorate even after having contact with steam under atmospheric pressure. In high pressure steam over 150°C, siloxane polymer is cut off and rubber properties decline. Such a property may be improved by the composition of silicone rubber, selection of curing agent, and the post curing. Other modified products are also available with improved steam and boiling water resistance.

  • Flame Retardancy

    Silicone rubber does not easily burn when in contact with a flame, but would burn out consistently once ignited. However, by adding a small amount of flame retardant, it may become flame retardant and self-extinguisher. Flame retardant silicone rubbers presently in use would scarcely produce toxic gas during combustion since they do not contain organic halogen compounds discovered in organic polymers.

  • Oil Resistance

    Silicone rubber is inferior to ordinary organic rubber in oil resistance at room temperature. However, for automobiles or aircrafts that require high temperature resistance, it demonstrates higher performance. Even when in contact with automobile oil, silicone rubber does not inflate significantly by reason of swelling. It swells in non polar organic compounds such as benzene, toluene, and gasoline. But its materials do not disintegrate or dissolve unlike ordinary organic rubbers. If solvent is removed, it would be restored to the original conditions.

  • Thermal Conductivity

    Silicone rubber has an excellent thermal conductivity property as it is filled with special heat conductive materials to give an excellent heat transfer. Its main function is to transfer the heat from the heat source to the heat sink and normally applied between them. It provides cushioning effect on components and very adhesive as it's very soft. It also has a property of self-adhesion so no need to treat with any other adhesive material.

  • Electromagnetic Absorption

    Recently the technologies of electronic equipments are advancing at a very fast-growing. Due to this reason EMC has become one of the hot issue in the electronic industrial. Electromagnetic absorption material is manufactured by filling the high performance metal powder with silicone rubber. It absorbs electromagnetic wave and changes the electromagnetic wave into the heat then vanish it.