Choosing a Silicone Adhesive
Silicone has existed for a long time, but it received its official name in the 1940s. Before that people had simply experimented with silicon – this is the natural chemical element upon which modern silicone is based.
Today, silicone is used in an ever-increasing array of applications, products and processes. This is because it has some remarkable qualities including, an incredible capacity for stability at extremes of hot and cold; a resistance to the damaging effects of water, ice, UV
rays, ozone and oxygen; it can be extruded into an unlimited number of shapes and sizes and hardness; it is self-sealing or healing; and it is excellent as an electrical insulator. Additionally, people will see silicone put to use in many personal, medical and food products because of its almost non-existent level of toxicity, its lack of odour or taste and its capacity to inhibit bacterial growth as well.
One area in which silicone is frequently applied is sealing and bonding. A silicone adhesive is known to be among the most durable and flexible, and is now capable of bonding surface to surface. There are not a lot of heavy-duty adhesives that can serve in the same capacity as a silicone adhesive, and this is because they come in a range of styles and are capable of joining materials like plastic, metal and glass.
This sort of application was first put to use by aquarium and glass tank manufacturers. Today they utilize a one hundred percent silicone adhesive to connect the pieces of glass that create tanks and aquariums, and these bonds are capable of withstanding hundreds of tons of pressure for the life of the object. This sort of application cannot apply to any modern plastic aquariums however, and this is because a silicone adhesive must be specially formulated to bond plastic to plastic. (Many turn to a silicone sealant for such a purpose)
Another advantage of a silicone adhesive is its high temperature resistance. Many other varieties of adhesive tend to fail at any extremes of temperature – either hot or cold – but the key properties of a silicone adhesive make it capable of withstanding temperatures of up to 600˚F without failing or breaking its bond. Interestingly, a silicone adhesive will also retain flexibility after curing; making it applicable in ways other adhesives are not.
This type of silicone adhesive appears quite frequently in the building industry where it can be used to join materials that must face exposure to glaring sunlight, freezing temperatures, water, wind and other issues that would cause traditional adhesives to fail.
A consumer or manufacturer can easily find a silicone adhesive in a variety of “cure systems” which are the ways that their bonding properties are activated. Currently this includes pressure sensitive bonds that require pressure applied to the contacting surfaces, moisture cured (which are among the most common), radiation cured (which require exposure to an ultraviolet light source), thermoset (requiring heat directed at the connection) and RTV (room temperature vulcanizing) types.
The durability and popularity of the silicone adhesive has made it available in every retail environment as well as in commercial locations. They are excellent counterparts to other silicone products, including such things as silicone grease or silicone rubber.
Silicone Adhesive
Silicone Adhesive - its uses, applications and properties
