The organosilicon products used for food and baby care products must be of high purity, and the VOC content shall not be higher than 0.5%;
Wacker upgraded the liquid silicone rubber completely, the VOC content was very low, and there was no need for secondary vulcanization;
Liquid silicone rubber without disulfide can be directly used in injection molding to improve processing efficiency.
Recently, Wacker introduced liquid silicone rubber products with low VOC content and no need for secondary vulcanization, which can meet the strict regulatory requirements in sensitive applications.
VOC content decreased
"In order to meet customer demand, we have significantly reduced the VOC content of liquid silicone rubber products produced in European factories." Dr Wolfgang schattenmann, head of wacker's silicone solution business team, explained, "in the process, we upgraded the Wacker liquid silicone rubber series to a low VOC product series."
In addition, Wacker has also launched the elastosil? LR 5040 silicone product series for the food, infant care, medicine and medical industries. "Compared with the new standard set by our low VOC liquid silicone rubber product portfolio, the molded parts made of elastosil? LR 5040 can meet the regulatory requirements for sensitive applications without secondary vulcanization." Claudia berghammer, senior marketing manager at Wacker silicone, explained.
With regard to the proportion of VOC content in organosilicon, relevant legislatures set strict purity standards, aiming to set high safety standards for products used in sensitive applications. Organosilicon products used in food and baby care products must be of high purity, and the VOC content shall not be higher than 0.5%.
In addition, organosilicon products used for technical applications are generally required to be free of volatile organosilicon components. "These areas will focus on the hazards of low molecular weight siloxanes." Dr. Frese said.
No need for secondary vulcanization
For silicone blenders, secondary vulcanization means additional processing? This will not only lead to a large amount of energy consumption, increase emissions, but also affect production efficiency. Nowadays, injection molding and product packaging have been fully automated, and the production cycle is very short, while the secondary vulcanization is mainly carried out manually. Therefore, such subsequent heating treatment will cause process chain interruption and limit production capacity. In addition, if the secondary vulcanization process fails, explosive mixture may be formed in the oven.
For blenders like Rico group, a global provider of all-round customized polymer solutions, elastosil? LR 5040, which has many advantages, ultimately saves a lot of costs.
"At present, all liquid silicone rubber we use to process finished parts needs to be put into barrels or pallets and transported to the secondary curing oven." Martin rapperstorfer, sales manager and Australian engineer.
"The next step is packaging? -- in this step, liquid silicone rubber parts will appear on the assembly line again. With the help of elastosil? LR 5040, we do not need to carry out secondary vulcanization at all, and we can directly carry out final packaging after production. " "It can not only reduce the related processes, but also save valuable resources and labor costs," he said In addition, he added, this would minimize the risk of contamination during manual operations.
In addition to baby care products, the application of silicone products without secondary vulcanization also includes products in contact with food and products used in medical and pharmaceutical technology, from kitchen appliances, coffee machines and storage containers to metering valves and respirators, etc.
Suitable for injection molding
The research of Dr. Wacker silicone Frese's team shows that the series of liquid silicone rubber can be vulcanized rapidly and can be directly used in injection molding process.
At present, elastosil? LR 5040 products range in hardness from shore A20 to shore A70, including a product with a hardness of shore A45 suitable for many baby care applications.
Different from the hardness of traditional silicone rubber, the hardness here refers to the hardness of the material without secondary vulcanization. The hardness deviation of elastosil? LR 5040 series products is very small, only 3 degrees (Shore A). Thanks to this, the mixer can meet the hardness requirements of customers with high accuracy.
In addition, a large number of laws and relevant standards clearly stipulate the upper limit of the extractable or transportable components of organosilicon for sensitive applications, including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Regulation cfr21 § 177.2600, European Pharmacopoeia (European Pharmacopoeia) Pharmacopeia) section 3.1.9, German Federal risk assessment institute (BFR) recommendation clause "XV. Organosilicon" and some regulations issued by EU Member States.
Elastosil? LR 5040 without secondary vulcanization also meets these requirements. In addition, the new liquid silicone rubber products without secondary vulcanization also have the biocompatibility specified in USP classvi and ISO10993.
High purity, tear resistant
The new liquid silicone is translucent and gives off light blue luster. The molding parts produced by this liquid organosilicon have excellent quality and high purity. In addition, secondary vulcanized liquid silicone rubber products are prone to yellowing during storage, and the yellowing tendency of new liquid silicone products has been minimized.
In addition to purity, many sensitive applications require high mechanical properties. "Only by using silicone material with excellent tear resistance, pacifiers, rubber rings, bottles and other baby care products can they have the required bite resistance." Claudia berghammer, marketing manager, explains.
The weight loss deviation of wacker's new liquid silicone rubber is very small, and each batch of products has been tested to ensure that the upper limit of 0.5% is not exceeded. The content of volatile, extractable and transportable substances in the vulcanized rubber made of the liquid organosilicon is far lower than the upper limit prescribed by law even if it is not subject to secondary vulcanization, so the safety is very high. In the past, silicone blenders had to ensure that their products met regulatory requirements. Now, with the launch of elastosil? LR 5040, this responsibility has been transferred to Wacker to a certain extent, and the burden of mixer manufacturers has been greatly reduced.
Overall upgrade of liquid silicone rubber product portfolio
"Upgrading the liquid silicone rubber portfolio will never affect the mechanical and chemical properties of elastomers," Dr. Frese said "Product approvals and certificates are as valid as they used to be," he stressed He believes that from the perspective of sustainable development, reducing VOC content means a significant progress, because the low molecular weight siloxane removed from these products will be reused in the recycling process, so as to protect the environment and save resources.
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