Silicone molding products have a number of significant benefits for industries globally. Silicone products find applications in industry, food, medicine, electronics and several others in products like catheters, seals, respirators, food containers and car components. Silicone molding is in high demand due to its benefits of cold and hot temperature resistance, flexibility, anti-oil, anti-fire, tight seals and chemical resistance. It is progressively turning to be a part of daily life.
There are a number of silicone molding technologies such as cast, dip, injection, rotational, transfer and reaction injection molding.Silicone is heat resistant, non-poisonous, highly resilient and a thermosetting material. The other benefits of silicone molding include minimal waste, rapid production speed, and precision finished goods.
The three most common molding techniques used are compression molding, liquid injection and transfer molding. Both transfer and compression molding are ideal for small-scale manufacturing. Production expenditure is considerably less as the needed equipment and tooling design are not very costly. With extensive manufacturing, liquid injection molding is more efficient especially due to the short cycle time, which is less than 1 s. It also ensures minimal waste, reliable component quality and minimal contamination risk.
Prior raw material processing is not needed, less cleaning is required and labor costs are considerably reduced with this kind of molding. One disadvantage of the liquid injection method is that it needs costly mould designs and equipment.
Silicone sponge rubber is used in cushions, golf or cricket ball, for covering hot metal hoses in order to shield operators from scalding, at the same time conserving energy. Silicone sponge rubber ensures insulation protection from high temperatures. One of its key benefits is its extremely low thermal conductivity that makes it a superior insulator. Silicone Engineering processes silicone rubber and offers a range of innovative products to suit customer needs
Source: http://www.silicone.co.uk