What is the difference between liquid silicone and solid silicone products? The main difference between liquid silicone and solid silicone is that one is liquid and the other is solid, but after processing, the two are not easy to identify.
Shape
Liquid silicone is in a liquid state and has fluidity. Liquid silicone products have high transparency. The products have glue injection edges, no obvious mold lines and hair edge defects, The appearance is relatively delicate and beautiful. Solid silicone is solid and has no fluidity. Solid silicone products have low transparency and smell of curing agent or other curing agents. No glue is injected into the product. The mold is closed up and down. There is a certain mold self-separation line in the parting part of the product.
Application
Liquid silicone is generally used in baby products and kitchen products, as well as medical products. It can be in direct contact with food and the human body.
Solid silicone is generally used for daily necessities and miscellaneous industrial parts, as well as automotive parts.
Liquid silicone is a highly transparent, highly safe food-grade material. No auxiliary materials such as vulcanizing agents are added during the molding process, and the sealing material is formed by sealing. Solid silicone is a transparent material, and a curing agent needs to be added to speed up the vulcanization and molding time, and the mold is opened and fed for molding.
Different molding process
Liquid silicone is injection molded(liquid silicone rubber): The injection molding process is simple. The product is high in precision and the output is high (A/B glue is mixed at a certain temperature for a few seconds to form). It is a cost-effective solution. With this advantage, it can produce all high-temperature rubber products and will be the mainstream of silicone rubber material development in the next few years.
Solid silicone molding means that the raw material is a solid piece. After mixing with the mixer, the cutting machine cuts the products and molds of appropriate size and thickness. And then puts them into the mold, and the pressure forming machine forms them at a certain temperature. When demoulding is the same as plastic products, the mold needs to be cleaned, etc.
Mold
The mold of solid silicone is generally relatively simple. It only needs to be processed into corresponding molds and cavities according to the parameters of the product, and the processing cost is relatively low. The liquid silicone mold has a complex structure and needs to consider issues such as the location of the injection port, cold runner system design, exhaust system design, mold temperature monitoring, etc. The mold processing cost is high.
Although the raw material of liquid silicone and solid silicone are both silicone rubber, there are big differences between them. Liquid silicone rubber has better fluidity and mold ability, while solid silicone rubber has better physical properties and chemical stability. Liquid silicone is easier to process than solid silicone. Due to its easy fluidity, liquid silicone can be molded and extruded with low energy consumption. Of course, this also reflects its advantage of high production efficiency.