2007 News
Shin-Etsu Chemical develops rapid cure silicone rubber
It cures about 5 times faster than conventional high-consistency rubber grades
Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. (Head office: Tokyo, President and CEO: Chihiro Kanagawa) has newly developed and begun sales of rapid cure silicone rubber that cures 5 times faster than the company's conventional high-consistency rubber (HCR) grade products.
Two kinds of this newly developed product are available: KE-594 with 40 Shore-A hardness and KE-597 with 70 Shore-A hardness. These products can be blended to meet a required intermediate hardness specification of users.
These new rapid cure silicone rubber products also have the following superior characteristics:
- Because this new product can increase the number of molded parts produced per hour due to a shorter molding cycle, it leads to reductions in the cost of molds, molding machines and personnel while maintaining current production capacity. Energy-savings can also be realized.
- Because fewer molds can be used, it leads to an improvement in the dimensional tolerances of the parts and also results in a reduction in the number of defective parts.
- Since the curing agent is already added, no front-end processing is necessary. Products can be made utilizing standard molding conditions.
- These new products strictly comply with United States Food and Drug Administration guidelines, and they can be used safely in food-related applications.
Silicone rubbers are used in diverse fields of application, including in electric and electronics, business equipment and automobiles. In recent years, there have been many cases in which, depending on the type of application, rubber mold makers have found it necessary to reduce costs and make improvements in productivity. Shin-Etsu believes that this new product will meet these kinds of user requirements.
Shin-Etsu will continue to pursue the development of cutting-edge silicone technologies in the future and will go forward with product development to meet the needs of a market that is becoming more sophisticated.
Silicones are highly functional materials that combine characteristics of both organic and inorganic materials. They are materials that provide high-value-added features for products in a wide range of industrial fields, including electrical and electronic applications, automobiles, construction, cosmetics and chemicals.
