TAGS: Hot-melt Adhesives Polyurethane Adhesives
General Silicones (GS), announces a solution for using hot-melt adhesives (HMA) with silicone rubber sheets during factory mass production.
Achieving "adhesion for silicone rubber" with HMA is difficult due to silicone's low surface energy. Allowing HMA to act as an interlayer adhesive, the Compo-SiL® silicone rubber offers a deciding innovation for the HMA industry. HMA users can take advantage not only to bind two dissimilar and lower surface energy material (silicone) but also getting various benefits that silicone rubber provides.
Silicone Bonding with Interlayer HMA
GS produces silicone rubber sheets with a thin modified polyurethane (PU) layer bonded to the silicone rubber. The ultra-thin PU layer allows the HMA interlayer adhesive to adhere/bond to the Compo-SiL® silicone rubber sheet if given proper process parameters. Heat and pressure in adequate amounts is necessary for strong adhesion and bonding. With the application of heat the HMA melts and adheres to the surfaces properly when it is compressed.
Solidification of the HMA interlayer adhesive depends on the amount of heat provided, thus it should be adequate to incur proper and faster solidification. Internal tests by GS with various HMA showed exceptional adhesion. HMA bond strength with Compo-SiL® was demonstrated by reaching cohesive failure within the silicone layer of Compo-SiL®.
Ideal for Medical and Textile-electronics Application
General Silicones' Compo-SiL® combined with HMA provides the uncomplicated record to report (R2R) process with CURED silicone bonding to textile. Traditional printing silicone inks limit design freedom to clients. The adhesion of the silicone prints to fabrics using liquid adhesives is challenging and involves several process steps. But Compo-SiL® simplifies silicone bonding to textile material and speeds-up production with HMA as an interlayer adhesive. Suitable applications include, functional textile decoration, silicone-based vegan leather, smart and wearable electronics and interior trim and automotive textiles.
Many prototypes (applications towards textile accessories, functional textiles, RFID and heater circuits on textile, stretchable substrates etc.) have already been developed by GS to prove the readiness of this technology for the textile industry.
Examples of prototypes Developed by GS include, anti-slip strips, boutique package, encapsulation of circuits, flexible heaters, grating effect decorations, heat transfer decoration, RFID circuit, watch strap, wound healing LED band
Solving Obstacles Faced by Multiple Industries
Features of silicone offer significant benefits useful in various situations. Silicone provides encapsulation. When used as an outer surface, it protects products from mechanical and chemical damage, extending durability. The application of this technology is not limited to the textile industries but it can be utilized in multidisciplinary fields. The interior trim and automotive textile, consumer 3D logo printing, robotics automation safety and flexible electronics industries are a few examples of trades that can benefit from these characteristics. Additional useful silicone properties are UV stability, usability in high and low temperature, and electric discharge safety.
As HMA bonding is low-VOC, solvent-free and creates an elastic interlayer. It complements well the properties and benefits that silicone provides.They match with medical-grade silicone and act to avoid and minimize plastic for green products.
Textile electronics-based companies can use the printable silicone film. With the printable silicone film, flexible/stretchable circuits are could be realized by inkjet printing or screen printing and bonded to textiles with HMA. Alternative suggested applications are flexible heaters for winter apparel or flexible RFID circuits. Apparel brands create green prints and deco strips using Compo-SiL® silicone with existing roll-to-roll printing processes.
Source: General Silicones