The Popularity of Silicone Rubber

Silicone rubber and other products are the end results of nearly one hundred years of experimentation and use of silicone products. Since the 1930s chemists and industrialists have been exploring the many properties and applications of this man-made material.

While people often confuse silicone with silicon, they are actually related. It is silicon (a natural chemical element) which is the base for all silicone products.

Most tend to be polymers, which are similar in construction to many plastics, but with far greater flexibility and potential uses.

Right now we’ll examine one of the most popular ways in which the material is used – silicone rubber.

Have you ever picked up an old rubber band? They are usually incredibly brittle and have entirely lost their stretchiness. This is because most rubber bands are natural or organic rubber which cannot withstand exposure to ozone, heat and ultraviolet rays. This is the reason that many industries and manufacturers use a silicone rubber rather than an organic one.

There are some incredible qualities to silicone rubber that make it a superior product all around, and these include:

· Retention of flexibility and resilience across a wide range of environments, exposure and temperatures

· Providing a much longer life to the product(s) using it

· Self-healing

· Offering a large range of hardness, which means it can be fabricated into an enormous number of shapes, sizes and styles

· High electrical insulation properties

· Unaffected by weather conditions

· Having no taste or smell, and an extremely low toxicity range making it perfectly acceptable for direct food contact

· Low interaction with other chemicals

What this list means is that silicone rubber is going to be used in almost any industry or manufacturing process imaginable. It also means that it has been adapted for use whenever possible as well.

Auto parts manufacturers use silicone rubber for gaskets and seals because they can withstand the rigours or wear and tear as well as the extremes of heat that occur in every car (they also use silicone grease due to its durability as well).

Toy manufacturers use silicone rubber because it can be fabricated into almost any possible shape, and its resilience never fades – consider the many styles of bouncing balls that children play with and realize that the majority rely upon silicone rubber. Silicone rubber appears in every room of the standard home, including garments and shoes, electronics and hardware and many personal products and toys.

Silicone rubber is usually milled and coloured before being extruded into the shape or profile required by the manufacturer. It is also moulded directly into the final products – today there are dozens of companies offering silicone bakeware, tapes, tubes and other shapes that are crafted during the initial manufacturing process.

Silicone rubber is almost everywhere we look and it is an ideal demonstration of how variable and flexible all of the silicone products can be. They appear in every industry, in the forms of silicone oil to silicone gel and more. They can be used in the garage, bathroom, kitchen and playroom and will continue to be put to work anywhere a reliable and durable product is needed.