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Why is Liquid Silicone Rubber ideal for injection molding applications?

Liquid Silicone Rubber injection molding

What is a Liquid Silicone Rubber?

Manufacturers in various industries, including automotive, healthcare, general industrial, infant care, consumer goods and electronics require easy-to-mold (and demold) low or high-viscosity rubber silicones to produce parts efficiently and cost-effectively.

Liquid silicone rubber (LSR) is the material of choice for injection molding applications. The silicone backbone is composed of repeating Si-O chains which are extremely flexible in nature giving this chemical structure unique properties such as a broad operating temperature range, weatherability, hydrophobicity, bio-inertness, electrical insulation, and a sustainable life span.

Liquid injection molding

Liquid injection molding is the process used with liquid silicone rubber (LSR) to fix the material from an uncured state into a cured part.

Liquid silicone rubber
  • The highly viscous LSR is extracted from drums or pails using a dosing unit and injected into a closed mold in the press.
  • The mold is then heated, and the heat combined with pressure applied to the LSR results in the rubber becoming a solid part.

Liquid Silicone Rubber for general purpose applications.

Producing quality parts rapidly is essential in the LSR molding market.  Liquid injection molding provides the most efficient and economically viable process using Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR).  Elkem Silicones offers a robust general purpose product range of LSR materials including durometers from 01-70 Shore A.   These materials are specifically designed with a fast cure and excellent mold release as well as excellent physical and mechanical properties.

Liquid Silicone Rubber for healthcare

Elkem Silicones offers an expanding line for liquid silicone rubber (LSR) for healthcare applications under the Silbione™ LSR range of materials. Injection molding LSR for healthcare applications allows for consistent production of parts with optimum quality, excellent process control and minimal cost. The Silbione™ range of medical grade liquid silicone rubber (LSR) provides high quality materials for advanced applications including short-term and long-term implantation applications with distinct advantages for producing precision molded parts.

Elkem Silicones works with you to define which materials are best suited for the intended application and processing conditions. Our technical team has expertise with all our Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR) materials and can advise you in your choice and all along your development.

What are the different processing methods for silicone rubber?

This blog article explores the five silicone rubber processing methods and their advantages, for us in an almost endless number of different applications.

THE DIFFERENT MANUFACTURING METHODS

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