When you are committed to creating high-quality, safe, and durable products, choosing the right materials is the most crucial step. As a manufacturer of silicone products, we recommend that you use liquid silicone rubber. In this guide, we will tell you the reasons.
What Is Liquid Silicone Rubber?
Liquid silicone rubber (LSR) is a two-component, low-viscosity, liquid thermosetting silicone rubber. It is precisely injected under high pressure and cured into a silicone product with high stability in a high-temperature environment.
Due to its numerous excellent properties, it is widely applied in fields such as baby care products, medical accessories, etc.
Advantages Of Liquid Silicone Rubber
Excellent Flowability & Moldability
As a type of silicone with extremely low viscosity, liquid silicone rubber can flow and deform as easily as milk. Thanks to this characteristic, it can easily fill the designated molds. Even if the shape of the mold you design is extraordinary, LSR can still meet the requirements.
For example, if your company wants to produce pacifiers with hollow textures, there will inevitably be deep lines and tiny holes. If you use the LSR, it can quickly fill all the gaps under high pressure and produce defect-free products.
However, if you use ordinary silicone, they are as sticky as dough and cannot accurately fill all the details. Therefore, the pacifiers will naturally have missing corners or broken lines.
High Elongation & Superior Resilience
This means that no matter how you pinch or press the LSR product, it can immediately return to its original shape. Moreover, you don’t need to worry that it will deform or break after long-term use like ordinary plastic products. Even if you press and pull it every day, it can still perfectly return to its original position.
Therefore, valve gaskets, etc., made of LSR can always ensure good sealing performance even if being squeezed for a long time. This can significantly reduce your replenishment rate, enhance the overall durability of your products, and thus bring you long-term benefits.
Excellent Thermal Stability
LSR can withstand extremely high or low temperatures, whether it is – 60℃ or 250℃, it can handle them with ease. Once molded, it will neither soften or melt due to high temperatures, nor crack or break due to low temperatures.
Whether you are a baby product company or a seller of kitchenware, your silicone pacifiers or baking pads will not deform. This ensures the safety of your consumers.
Besides, LSR can maintain its stability under large temperature differences and will not easily break. This characteristic makes LSR widely used in the manufacturing of automobiles and machines. Because the temperatures near the engines of these products are very high and prone to dramatic changes.
Only by using liquid silicone rubber can you ensure that they do not crack and have a longer service life.
Superior Aging & Weather Resistance
You surely don’t want to invest a lot of money only to get products that are easily degradable. Especially when your products need to be used in outdoor or harsh conditions.
Liquid silicone rubber has an extremely strong anti-aging ability. Even when exposed to strong ultraviolet rays, it can still maintain its original function. For instance, when you attach the LSR sealing rings to outdoor lighting, they will not harden after prolonged exposure to sunlight.
If you are serving the shipping industry, choosing LSR would be even wiser. Even if splashed by seawater or soaked in seawater for a long time, this material will not crack easily.
Strong Chemical & Corrosion Resistance
Ordinary rubber products will turn yellow and become sticky after being exposed to chemicals such as acids and alkalis. Some may even stink and become unusable.
However, if you use LSR products, they have strong chemical and corrosion resistance. Therefore, even if they come into contact with car engine oil or medical disinfectants, they will not easily react with them.
If you are in the medical, food, or chemical industries, choosing LSR can greatly ensure the stability of your products.
Excellent Electrical Insulation Properties
If you are engaged in manufacturing work related to electronic or electrical systems, electrical insulation is your primary consideration.
LSR has excellent electrical insulation properties and is highly suitable for parts that need to prevent leakage or short circuits. If you are designing high-voltage connectors for electric vehicles, liquid silicone rubber can ensure the reliability of your electrical components.
Even in high-temperature or humid environments, it can maintain its insulating performance. This can reduce the risk of electric shock for your employees when installing and maintaining the equipment.
High Biocompatibility
For you in the medical or health industry, biocompatibility is the bottom line. Biocompatibility refers to the fact that your material can meet the standards of close contact with human skin. And it is even suitable for implantation without causing any adverse reactions.
LSR has extremely high biocompatibility and complies with strict standards such as ISO 10993 and USP Class VI. This means it is non-toxic and non-irritating. You can use it with confidence without worrying about any safety risks.
If you want to apply it to medical devices, surgical instruments, or pacifiers and baby bottles, etc, just do it. Because it can ensure the safety and compliance of your products, helping you gain the trust of professionals and consumers.
Compatible With Multiple Sterilization
You need a product that can withstand multiple sterilizations without being damaged to help you meet medical standards. LSR precisely meets this requirement. It is compatible with mainstream sterilizations, and you don’t need to worry about it deforming or becoming unusable after multiple sterilizations.
When your medical surgical instruments are used and undergo ISO international sterilization treatments, they will not release harmful substances. This will not only enable you to meet the sterilization standards of the medical industry, but also reduce your scrap rate.
Outstanding Optical Clarity & Wide Color Range
If you desire a transparent texture while also wanting to present rich colors, LSR would be your ideal choice. It has excellent transparency, which allows your parts to have better texture without any blurring. At the same time, you can also customize a wide range of colors according to your own needs. And these colors are even and not easy to fade.
Just imagine, if your pacifiers were made with a highly transparent material that is softer and has a very clean-looking color, which parent wouldn’t want to place an order right away?
Why LSR Is Better Than Other Materials
LSR VS Solid Silicone
You might wonder, since both are silicone rubber, why choose liquid silicone rubber instead? The core difference between the two is that the flowability and moldability of solid rubber are worse than those of LSR.
Solid silicone is similar to plasticine, hardly flowing and only deforming when pressed. If you use solid silicone, you need to cut it first before putting it into the mold for pressing. Moreover, your product is not easy to perfectly fit into the complex molds, and requires lots of manual polishing later.
While LSR is a liquid similar to milk, there is no need for you to perform complex processing. It can smoothly fit into every detail of the mold. This will make the precision of your finished products higher and save you a lot of subsequent processing costs.
Especially when you need to equip medical or microelectronic equipment with precise accessories, LSR can maximize the realization of your ideas.
LSR VS TPE / TPR
Although TPE/TPR has advantages like a lower price and the reuse of waste, it still has many fatal drawbacks. The most prominent drawback is its poor heat resistance. Once the temperature exceeds 60-80℃, the material will soften and deform.
This means that when your sealing ring is exposed to boiling water, its sealing performance will deteriorate. Not to mention, if you want to apply it to cars, household appliances, industrial equipment, etc. Because the equipment often operates at temperatures far exceeding 80°C.
However, LSR can effectively solve these problems. Its acceptable temperature range is from -60 to 250°C, allowing you to easily handle boiling water and high-temperature steam.
LSR VS Traditional Rubber
If you don’t want your product to have a strong rubber smell, please don’t choose traditional rubber.
Because this material contains sulfurizers and other substances, especially when heated, the smell becomes much stronger. However, the LSR component is clean, which makes your pacifiers, kitchen rubber pads, etc. smell very fresh.
In addition, its high-temperature resistance is not as good as that of LSR. Generally, it can only reach 100-200℃, unlike LSR, which can maintain its toughness under large temperature differences. This will cause your engine, etc., to age and break down rapidly.
Moreover, this silicone, like solid silicone, cannot be precisely formed and thus cannot meet your requirements for making precision instrument accessories.
FAQ
Does LSR Require Special Molds?
Yes. Your mold needs to be equipped with a static mixer for uniform mixing of LSR raw materials. At the same time, there is also a temperature control system to ensure that the curing temperature is stable.
How Long Does LSR Take To Cure?
The curing time of LSR depends on the molding temperature and product thickness. Generally, at a temperature range of 160-180℃, your thin-wall parts (less than 2mm) require 10-60 seconds. And your thick-wall parts (more than 5mm) require 1-5 minutes.
Is LSR Recyclable?
LSR is a thermosetting material and cannot be melted and reused after curing. However, during the production process, the uncured part can be mixed with new LSR raw materials in a proportion not exceeding 10% for secondary use.
Can LSR Be Bonded With Other Materials?
Yes. With appropriate surface treatment or adhesives, LSR can achieve effective bonding with engineering plastics, metals, etc. Therefore, using LSR enables you to better engage in fields such as electronics and automobiles.
Final Thought
Obviously, the remarkable advantages of liquid silicone rubber make it a wise choice for you. Legensilico, as a professional company specializing in manufacturing silicone products, is undoubtedly your best choice. If you want to learn more about and order LSR products, please contact us!
