A new high consistency rubber (HCR) allows one universal catalyst to be used with each of the six bases, providing ultimate flexibility, so that the single catalyst can cure any of the six bases with less than 10% of the composition. Sil-X-Shin Silicone Elastomers from Shin-Etsu Silicones of America are specifically engineered for extruded tubing and profiles in the healthcare, beverage, and architectural glazing applications.
In addition to coming in a wide range of Shore A hardness's, spanning from 30 to 80, the platinum, addition-cure series is made with a 10:1 ratio of base compound to catalyst. In practice, this means that if a customer stocked 1000 lb of each base material, they'd need 6000 lb of bases and 6000 lb of catalysts in a traditional 1:1 system, for a total of 12,000 lb of inventory.
Thanks to the single, universal catalyst that cures any of the 6 bases with less than 10% of the composition, the Sil-X-Shin series would allow the same customer to use just 600 lb of a single catalyst. "That's only 6600 lb and 7 SKUs instead of 12," Shin-Etsu noted in a release. "That's a lot less inventory to purchase, warehouse, and manage, which translates into significantly reduced working capital and material logistics costs."
The Sil-X-Shin series is USP Class VI compliant, and its platinum, addition-cure chemistry reportedly results in a tight surface finish with few residual by-products. When properly cured, finished products will resist taking a set that can alter the dimensions of an extruded article. Shin-Etsu's North American marketing manager, Eric Bishop, noted that this feature is particularly critical in the case of a peristaltic pump, which relies on the resiliency of the elastomer to return to its original dimension, even after a million cycles, in order to maintain the prescribed volumetric flow-rate.
Manufactured in ISO 9001 facilities at Shin-Etsu's U.S. headquarters in Akron, OH, the products are available in 1100-lb kits, with samples available in 110-lb kits.
