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The News About Silicone Rubber!
Silicone rubber was accidentally discovered in the search for a better insulating and thermal-resistant material for smaller motors and alternators. In the pursuit of this goal, chemists in the employment of Corning Glass and General Electric (GE) stumbled upon silicone rubber, or in other words, silicon polymers with rubberlike properties. Silicone rubber that was first produced had the chemical name of polydimethlysiloxane.The Commercial History of Silicone Rubber
At its discovery, silicone rubber did not yield information regarding its commercial viability. Further research and mind searching by the chemists at GE and Corning Glass led to a commercially possible means of mass-producing silicone rubber. With further studies, the various other possibilities of silicone rubber came about that led to its mass production in the latter half of the 1940s. GE and Corning Glass, along with a few other companies, were the first in the field of silicone rubbers to reap profits from its sale.
Silicone Rubber and its Manufacture
Silicone rubber is a polymer of silicon-containing carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. It is a rubber with excellent insulating and temperature-resistant properties. Silicone rubber is made through a process known as vulcanization or curing of natural rubber. Silicon is injected into the long hydrocarbon chains of natural rubber through a dual-stage process under high heat and pressure, thus converting it into silicone rubber. Further, the cured rubber is processed a little more until the final marketable product is obtained.
Properties of Silicone Rubber
Silicone rubber maintains all of its properties even at high temperatures of 300 degrees Celsius as well as at low temperatures around -55 degrees Celsius. It is because of this that silicone rubber is preferred over conventional rubber, since the silicon-carbon bonds in silicone rubber are resistant to temperature fluctuations. Silicone rubber exhibits better tear strength, tensile strength, elongation and compression in comparison to natural rubber at high temperatures. However, at normal temperatures, silicone rubber has low tensile strength, which makes it unfit for certain high-load works.
Types and Variants of Silicone Rubber
Treatment with reagents introduces special properties into silicone rubber. In this manner, different types of artificial rubbers can be made. Electrically conductive, metal-detectable, heat-resistant and flame-retarding are a few of the variants of silicone rubber. These variants are used specifically for the purposes for which they were created. Industrially, they are classified into three main categories: high-temperature vulcanizing, room-temperature vulcanizing and liquid silicone rubbers.
Applications of Silicone Rubber
Silicone rubber has many useful properties that are fully exploited commercially. An important property is its inertness to chemical and corrosive agents. For this reason, it is used to make many medical implants and appliances. It is used in the manufacture of personal items such as gloves, flame-retardant clothes and protective wear, and of industrial items such as insulating layers, electronic insulation, flame-retardant linings and car tires. Vulcanized rubber finds the most widespread application in the tire industry, where every tire is made from cured rubber.
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