How to distinguish between solid and liquid silicone products

Silicone rubber is a commonly used chemical product material in daily life. Silicone products also have standard hardness distinctions between soft and hard. Liquid silicone products and solid silicone products are often distinguished by Shore hardness. The ability of a material to locally resist hard objects being pressed into its surface is called hardness, and silicone rubber has a Shore hardness range of 10 to 80.
Silicone hardness standards give designers full freedom to choose the desired hardness to best achieve a specific function. Various intermediate hardness values can be achieved by mixing different proportions of polymer base material, fillers and additives. Likewise, the time and temperature of heat curing can also change hardness without destroying other physical characteristics.

Shore hardness range of solid silicone products: 20-80 Shore hardness (values are for reference only)

Shore hardness range of liquid silicone products: 10-70 Shore hardness (values are for reference only)

It can be seen from the hardness range that liquid silicone products have the lowest hardness that solid silicone products cannot achieve. For example, in the medical industry, maternal and infant industry, and toiletry product applications, liquid silicone products have absolute advantages.
The Shore hardness of silicone products is not an absolute reference value element for distinguishing solid silicone products from liquid silicone products. Liquid silicone application R&D engineers often distinguish the difference between solid and liquid silicone in a simple way by looking, pulling and smelling.

1. Look at the color! Liquid silicone products have absolute transparency, and liquid silicone products can achieve 92% transparency. Solid silicone products cannot achieve high permeability, which depends on the molecular structure distinction between liquid and solid.

2. Measure the stretch! The same silicone product was tested by hand stretching. After recovery, it was found that the liquid silicone product did not show any signs of whitening due to stretching. When solid silicone products are stretched to a certain extent, they will show signs of whitening and uneven tear marks. Whitening is what people often call rough edges.

3. Smell it! Liquid silicone products are tasteless and odorless, while solid silicone products have a sour smell.

In addition to these simple distinctions between solid and liquid silicone products, there are also more professional testing tools and methods to identify them. Dimensional tolerance: liquid silicone tolerance ±0.05MM; solid silicone tolerance ±0.15MM; solid silicone products and liquid silicone products can also be distinguished from aspects such as performance, manufacturing molds, production environment, product hygiene, production efficiency, raw material costs, etc. .