There are different ways in the silicone manufacturing process to help you achieve different grades with excellent properties. After reading this article, you’ll learn about the materials and the step-by-step process of manufacturing silicone.
Materials For Making Silicone
- Silica
- Methyl Chloride
- Curing Agents
- Fillers
- Stabilizer
- Additives and colorants
Step-By-Step Process Of Manufacturing Silicone
Step 1:Find Quality Raw Material
The first step you need to take when you want to produce silicone is to source the material. The right material to source for is metallurgical or quartz because it features 99.5% silica as the raw material. Silica is hard, but when transformed into silicone, it becomes flexible. In manufacturing, you can use silica to produce different materials like silanes, fluids, rubbers, liquid rubbers, and resins.
Step 2: Grind quartz With a Carbon Source and Heat
In this stage, you need to grind the silicon dioxide with carbon. After which you need 1800˚C of temperature to heat the silicon and carbon that you grinded together.
After following the above steps, you’ll get silicon and carbon monoxide. The silicon is usually in powder or liquid form. If it’s in liquid form, you can allow it to cool for some time, then grind it to have it in powder form.
NOTE: The electric quality and the quantity of the raw material are what usually determine the hours it takes to extract silicon.
Step 3: Make Silicon from Silica
When you get to this stage, you’ll need fluidized bed reactors to apply pressure to the methyl chloride. You can do this by using a 300-degree centigrade temperature to make the methyl chloride go through the silicon powder reactor.
When you do this, there’s a chain reaction that produces methylchlorosilane. Methyl Chlorosilane has dimethyldichlorosilane as the primary compound, and they are a very important part of the silicone.
Step 4: Extract Silicone From Dimethyldichlorosilane
This stage is the distillation stage. It’s crucial because it’s in this stage that you exclude every compound of Chlorosilanes. After which you can convert Dimethyldichlorosilane to Silicone.
The next thing is to add water to Dimethyldichlorosilane. This process helps you separate hydrochloric acid and Disilanol. Polydimethylsiloxane is then created by catalyzing Disilanol when you apply hydrochloric acid.
After going through all the above processes, you’ll have a Polydimethylsiloxane result which features a siloxane bond.
Step 5: Polymerization
In this last stage, you need to determine the grade and the type of properties that you want before you subject the polymerization process which entails pouring it into a silicone mold.
NOTE: It is important that you know that you can transform silicone into different materials like silicone grease, silicone, resin, silicone rubber, etc.
Different Types Of Silicone Properties Achieved Due To Little Varying Silicone Manufacturing Process
The Table below shows the type of silicone you will get if you make a slight change to the silicone manufacturing process discussed above.
| Type Of Silicone | Properties/Features |
| Room Temperature Vulcanized Silicones |
|
| High Consistency Silicone Rubber |
|
| Liquid Silicone |
|
| Fluorosilicone |
|
Conclusion
The silicone manufacturing process is straightforward and does not require too much effort. When you follow the step-by-step process in this guide, you will be happy to see the result of the silicone.
More Resources:
Why Doesn’t Silicone Melt or Burn: A Look at Facilitator Of Silicone Temperature Range – Source: TOGOHK
What Is Silicone Temperature Range:Comprehensive Guide To Silicone Temperature Range – Source: TOGOHK
Silicone Melting Temperature: All You Need To Know – Source: TOGOHK
Where Does Silicone Rubber Come From; A Look at The Formulation and Existence of Silicone Rubber – Source: TOGOHK
Complete Guide To Silicone Allergy – Source: TOGOHK