A Layman’s Guide to Silicone Rubber Strips and Their Properties

by Accurate Rubber Accurate Rubber Corporation

Not many of us give a passing thought to the importance of rubber in our daily lives. However, if we were to take a moment to check its applications, one would be surprised at its far-reaching nature. Rubber elements are present in many sectors like automobiles, construction sites, appliances, aviation vehicles, footwear, etc..Needless to say, the industrial world is dependent on rubber and its derivatives to a large extent.

What Are Rubber Strips?

Rubber strips are either made from rubber sheet or made using rubber extrusion process. There are four most commonly used rubber raw material for making rubber strip.

● Synthetic rubber, which is derived from petroleum sources; and

● Natural rubber, which is harvested by processing the sap/latex of the tree-HeveaBrasilinesis

● Reclaimed rubber, which is made after devulcanizing and vulcanizing used rubber sources like tires and discarded rubber products

● Recycled rubber, that is made usable using adhesives

The most popular elastomer materials, down to the molecular level, used to create rubber strips are:

● Natural Rubber

● Silicone Rubber

● Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM)

● Neoprene

● Styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR)

Here, we shall take a quick look at silicone based rubber strips and their properties.

What Are Silicone Rubber Strips?

Rubber strips are made out of silicone rubber which known as silicone rubber strips or silicone strip. Silicone rubber offers high as well as low-temperature resistance, which makes silicone rubber strips as ideal gasketing and sealing material where wide temperature support range requires. It can also be made from food grade and other special spec grade materials.

This polymer is then treated with reinforcing fillers and other processing aids that are cross-linked at requisite high temperatures with either polyaddition or peroxide curing. This process allows silicone strips to gain a solid state with elastomeric properties.

If your field of application requires high operating temperatures, look no further than silicone rubber. It is also chemically inert, electricity-resistant and non-toxic, thus making it safe for use while reactive or edible elements. This property has made it the default material in many industrial and food processing sectors.

Silicone rubber strips are used for gasketing and sealing material used as weatherstrip, door seal, door gasket, windows seal & gasket, oven gasket, medical equipment gasket and much more ..

How are these Silicone Strips Made?

There are two commonly used methods for creating silicone strips depending upon practical and economical aspect.

● Extrusion: In this process, a die, which is a stamping tool, is used to create longer pieces of silicone rubber strip. It is highly cost-effective since it produces a general strip of rubber that can be modified for a wide range of applications, as per your requirement.

● Cut from Sheet: In this process, as per customer width requirements it’s precisely cut from fixed thickness silicone rubber sheet which available in wide variety of thickness and hardness.

Silicone rubber is, without doubt, a valuable aid to industrial processing. Due to its high temperature-tolerance abilities and chemical inertness, it has become the favored rubber material of choice for many industries. It is extremely durable and available in a range of colors as per your requirements. There is virtually no stopping its dominance in industrial sectors.

We, at accurate rubber corporation, constantly strive to offer custom silicone rubber weather stripping & other extruded gasket & seal with highest quality to our customers. Please contact us sales@accuraterubber.com or visit our website www.accuraterubber.com if you have any question or have any requirement for extruded silicone rubber gasket, strips, weather stripping, window door & sealor other rubber products