From baby items to industrial accessories, you can find silicone products everywhere. But do you know how to ensure that your silicone products are of high quality? Here, we will teach you some silicone product quality tests to help you better identify them.
Five Tips For Identifying High-Quality Silicone Products
Check The Appearance
When you get a silicone product, you should inspect its appearance first.
Surface Finish: You need to check if the luster of the silicone looks very high-end. Generally, if you find your product is matte or semi-matte and looks very textured, then it is very likely to have been made with high-quality silicone. Although some possess shiny surfaces, as long as you don’t find them too dazzling, please feel free to use them.
Color Uniformity: At the same time, you should also thoroughly inspect if the color of the silicone is uniform and pure. Good silicone surfaces will not become dark, nor will they have any mottled spots. If you find the color is not even or clear, it means the quality of the silicone is substandard.
Texture & Defects: Also, don’t forget to lightly touch the surface in all directions with your hand. When you touch the good silicone, you will feel that it is very smooth because there will be no raised bubbles or burrs.
Structural Integrity: You should also check the joints of the product to ensure that they are tightly connected and there is no delamination problem.
Smell Test
After the initial appearance test, you also need to further check the odor of the silicone product.
High-quality silicone: You can hardly detect any smell from truly high-quality silicone products. Even if you smell a slight silicone odor when you first receive the product, don’t worry, as this is a normal phenomenon. You just need to let them ventilate naturally for a while, and the unpleasant smell will disappear.
Low-quality silicone: However, if it is low-quality silicone, as soon as you open it, you will smell a stinky silicone smell. And no matter how long you ventilate it, its unpleasant smell still lingers.
To further determine the quality of the silicone, you can also put it in boiling water for a few minutes and then smell it again. If it is of high quality, even if it is soaked in hot water, you still won’t smell any terrible odor. However, if it is low-quality, due to the chemical residues, it will give off a pungent smell when exposed to boiling water.
Flexibility And Stretch Test
High-quality silicone has excellent flexibility. This means you can easily mold, bend it, and it will not have creases or break. Even if you pull it hard, it won’t turn white or be torn.
Moreover, after various deformations, it can easily and quickly rebound and regain its original appearance. This is something you cannot achieve when using low-quality silicone, as it has poor resilience and is prone to cracking.
However, you should be aware that in different fields, there are different requirements for the flexibility of silicone.
The mother and baby industry: The food-grade silicone you use must be extremely soft and highly elastic. Especially for your pacifiers and soft spoons used by infants and toddlers, they need to have good deformation effects.
The food industry: You can choose silicone with moderate hardness. Your baking utensils, cooking tools, etc., need to be soft but not flat to maintain a good feel of touch.
The industrial industry: Industrial silicone is generally harder. Because you need to apply them to automotive engine sealing rings, mechanical shock absorbers, etc. So your products must have excellent hardness to resist aging and be more durable.
The medical industry: You need to use extremely soft medical silicone. Because it has close contact with human skin and tissues, and this will decrease the harm to doctors and patients. Your medical silicone tubes, breathing mask, soft pads, etc., need to be delicate and skin-friendly at all times.
Temperature Resistance Check
High-quality silicone products can effectively withstand high temperatures. You can examine its label or the instructions, as they usually show the safe temperature range.
Generally, they can adapt to temperatures ranging from -40°F to 446°F(-40℃ to 230℃). If you see “Machine washable,” they can withstand washing temperatures from 140°F to 160°F(60℃ to 71℃). If it is special high-temperature resistant silicone, your product may even be able to withstand temperatures as high as 500°F(260℃).
To test the effect, you can use the product under the claimed appropriate conditions.
For instance, if it is a baking pad, you can put it in an oven preheated to the appropriate temperature. If you find the baking pad remains intact and has no unpleasant smell, it is just made of qualified silicone. However, if you find it deforms or melts after heating, or even develops a burnt smell and becomes oily. Then obviously, your product uses inferior silicone.
In addition, you can further determine it through a burning test. You can try burning it in a professional laboratory. If it is good, when you burn it, you will only see a small white smoke, and the smell is not irritating. And after burning, the silicone will turn into fine white powder.
But if it is inferior, when you burn it, it will produce a large amount of black smoke. And it is accompanied by a pungent smell similar to plastic. After burning, you will find that it has formed black, hard lumps, which are not only sticky but also produce stringing.
Certification Label Identification
A responsible silicone manufacturer will attach a silicone certification to help you quickly identify the qualification of silicone products. You can carefully check whether they have the corresponding qualification certificates based on the target market. This can ensure that your products can be imported and sold normally.
FDA: This certificate can help you meet the requirements of the US market. Once you see this certificate, your product complies with the U.S. Food Safety Contact standards. This proves that your silicone products will not release harmful substances when used normally. You can sell them with confidence.
LFGB: If you want to enter the German and EU market, you must comply with LFGB. This standard is more stringent than the certification in the United States. This not only shows that the silicone you use is non-toxic and harmless, but also shows that it has no taste and no smell.
BPA-Free: BPA is a harmful chemical substance in plastics. Once you have this certification, your product is made of real silicone, not plastic.
ISO 10993: If you are in the medical field, you need to pay extra attention to this certification. This means the silicone has reached the medical level. You can safely expose the product to the human body or even implant it into the body.
For added product identification and security, some manufacturers also use hologram security stickers to help make genuine silicone products easier to verify.
FAQ
What Is The Shelf Life Of High-quality Silicone Products?
If you store and use it normally, the shelf life of high-quality silicone products is generally 3 to 5 years. If you store it in a dark, dry, and normal temperature environment, some high-purity silicone products can have a service life of up to 8 to 10 years. Of course, you should make sure it will not be in prolonged contact with strong acids or strong alkalis.
Is Food-grade Silicone The Same As Regular Silicone？
It’s different. Food-grade silicone conforms to food contact safety standards. It ensures your products are non-toxic, odorless, heat-resistant, and can be in direct contact with food and baby products. While most ordinary silicone is industrial-grade, it may contain inferior materials with a bad smell and may fail to meet safety standards. It is only suitable for industrial use.
Why Is Platinum-cured Silicone More Expensive Than Regular Silicone?
Because platinum catalysts have higher purity and no chemical residues, they can ensure that your product material is better. And its production process is more stringent, so it’s far superior to ordinary silicone in safety, stability, elasticity, and other aspects. If you want to use silicone in food, medical, etc. scenarios, it is your better choice.
How To Choose The Right Silicone Products Supplier？
Firstly, you need to check the enterprise’s qualifications to ensure that its production scale and quality control process are both complete. Then, you need to look at its cases to learn about its partners and successful projects.
You also need to ask if it provides test reports and if it supports third-party retesting. Then, you request them to provide test samples and verify whether the quality is stable and consistent. Finally, you also need to examine the after-sales service and delivery time to see if it supports batch spot checks, returns, and exchanges, etc
You should remember that you can’t just look at the price, but also consider the overall strength and choose a reliable long-term cooperative factory.
Final Thought
After performing the silicone quality test, you can effectively determine whether the silicone you use is good. If you are looking for a reliable silicone manufacturer, don’t hesitate to choose Legensilico. We can provide you with various high-quality silicone products. Please contact us in time!
