9 Incredible Facts about Liquid Silicone Rubber that Every Rubber Expert Must Know

One of the most unique sealing materials that offer multiple recognizable benefits for various applications is without a doubt – Liquid silicone rubber (LSR). It is preferred across various industries such as aerospace, automobile, electronics, and consumer products, making it a popular elastomer.

This versatile and supreme quality rubber has made a major impact in the sealing industry and for all the right reasons. Listed below are nine incredible benefits that LSR has to offer.

1) Great Resistance:

LSR shows excellent resistance to weather, water, and ozone, making it an excellent sealing solution for outdoor applications that are exposed to harsh weather conditions for long periods.

2) Food Grade Capabilities:

LSR exhibits excellent food-grade characteristics as well. Since it is tasteless, odorless, transparent, and can retain its mechanical properties over time, it is ideal for multiple applications. For instance, LSR is quite often used in gaskets for cooking appliances, household products, seals, and baby care items.

3) Sanitary Solutions

For industries with stringent sanitation guidelines, LSR makes for an ideal sealing solution. The reason being, LSR is mildew-resistant, hypoallergenic, and mold-resistant. Often preferred for consumer products, LSR can be found in common places like dishwasher gaskets, cleaning supplies, showerheads, and products used for bathing.

4) Self-Lubricating

LSR can be mixed in certain ways to adopt and display desirable characteristics. For instance, to make the rubber self-lubricating, we can mix incompatible fluids into silicone components. When the rubber cures, the liquid rises to the surface, creating a lubricating and slippery texture.

6) Services the Automotive Industry

LSR is temperature and chemical-resistant, making it a valuable sealing material for various automotive applications. Some popular ones include seals for data connectors, engine components, driving parts, comfort assistance parts, LED diffusers, and headlight gaskets.

6) Thermal Stability

LSR possesses superior thermal stability and can easily withstand extreme and harsh temperatures that range anywhere between 85° to +400°F. At low temperatures, LSR can also retain flexibility. This makes it the perfect sealing solution for cold-temperature applications.

7) Reduced Cycle Times

Due to fast cure times, LSR can be manufactured quickly and in sizable quantities. This makes it convenient for manufacturers to mass-produce LSR parts. LSR can also have higher reactivity to quicken the pace of cure, by managing the number of functional groups added to the cure site.

8) Electrically Conductive

Conductive LSR can be manufactured by mixing conductive-grade carbon black with LSR parts. Since this grade features superior-functioning mechanical properties, it can resist down to almost 9 ohm-cm volume.

9) Easily Pigmented

Since LSR is naturally clear, customers can pick their preferred color. Mixing color pigment to LSR is usually a simple task and by doing so, it does not modify the chemical properties of this incredible material.

We hope you have found some noteworthy insights about liquid silicone rubber. If you are looking for high-quality and effective sealing solutions, then get in touch with us at contact@harkeshrubber.com. Whether you are creating a new design or are reengineering existing technologies, Harkesh Rubber can work with you from idea to prototype to production with a very short lead time.