RTV silicone
RTV silicone (room-temperature-
Chemistry
RTV silicones are made from a mixtures of silicone polymers, fillers, and organoreactive silane catalysts. Silicones are formed from a Si–O bond, but can have a wide variety of side chains.[3] The silicone polymers are often made by reacting dimethyl dichlorosilane with water.[4]
Fillers such as acetic acid can provide a fast cure time, while oxides and nitrides can provide better thermal conductivity. Tack-free times are typically on the order of minutes, with cure times on the order of hours.[3]
One-component silicone
One-part silicones make use of moisture in the atmosphere to cure from the outside towards the center.[4] The time to cure will decrease with an increase in temperature, humidity and surface-area-to-volume ratio.
Two-component silicone
Two-part silicones use moisture in the second component as well as a cross-linker such as active alkoxy to cure the silicone in a process called condensation curing. Two-part silicones can also be platinum catylized in a "addition" reaction.[3] Other reactive species to facilitate cross-linking include acetoxy, amine, octoate, and ketoxime.[4]
Applications
To produce the material, a user mixes silicone rubber with the
Features
- Good characteristics of easy operation
- Light viscosity and good flow-ability
- Low shrinkage
- Favorable tension
- No deformation
- Favorable hardness
- High-temperature resistance, acid and alkali resistance, and ageing resistance
Advantages and disadvantages
RTV silicone rubber has excellent release properties compared to mold rubbers, which is especially an advantage when doing production casting of resins (polyurethane, polyester, and epoxy). No release agent is required, obviating post-production cleanup. Silicones also exhibit good chemical resistance and high-temperature resistance (205 °C, 400 °F and higher). For this reason, silicone molds are suitable for casting low-melt metals and alloys (e.g. zinc, tin, pewter, and Wood's metal).
RTV silicone rubbers are, however, generally expensive--especially platinum-cure. They are also sensitive to substances (
References
- doi:10.1002/aoc.2832
- ^
- ^ a b c Lorenz, Günter, and Andreas Kandelbauer. “14 - Silicones.” Handbook of Thermoset Plastics. Third Edition. Elsevier Inc, 2014. 555–575. Web.
- ^ OCLC 1061100690.
- ^ "picsima-ii". picsima-ii. Retrieved 2017-01-05.