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What is the difference between TPE and silica gel, do you really understand it
Source：德创化工Time：2020-06-14Hits：2623
What are TPE and silica gel
Silica gel is a thermosetting elastomer with the advantages of safety and non-toxicity, insoluble in water and any solvent, non-toxic and tasteless, stable in chemical properties, does not react with any substance except strong alkali and hydrofluoric acid, has high adsorption performance, good thermal stability and stable chemical properties, and is widely used in adult products and food products.
TPE is a kind of thermoplastic elastomer, which is environmentally friendly and nontoxic, easy to color, smooth and soft to the touch, with hardness in the range of 0A-120A. It is simple to process and shape, does not need vulcanization processing, can be recycled, and reduces the cost. It can be coated and bonded with PP, PE, PC, PS, ABS and other plastic materials (secondary injection molding) or can be formed separately.
I'm 100% sure that some people will pick up the words and say that since silica gel is nontoxic and tasteless, why are many of the products you are targeting made of silica gel, and why do I still have a lot of smell when I get it, not necessarily you deceive consumers? I can only say that you think the problem is too naive. What else is pure material now, just like the tungsten steel made of steel with tungsten added is stronger, and the silicon steel made of silicon added has better ductility. In fact, every manufacturer uses silica gel as the basic material. In order to achieve the required softness, elasticity and design requirements, some other formula will be added for synthesis. Therefore, the toy you get is definitely not 100% pure silica gel, but synthetic silica gel.
Second, the difference between TPE and silica gel:
1. TPE is a general designation for various elastomer materials that have rubber elasticity at normal temperature and can melt and flow at high temperature. Silica gel is a special rubber with good mechanical strength, wear resistance and high temperature resistance after crosslinking. It belongs to thermosetting rubber. It will not melt when heated after vulcanization. It will burn when the temperature is too high. The products of complete combustion are water and silica.
2. They are different in analytical structure: silica gel is an elastomer linked by siloxane bonds in the main chain, and the side chain is generally methyl, namely CH3. TPE is a thermoplastic elastomer, including styrenes, olefins and polyurethanes. The main difference between the molecular structures of the two is that the main chain is SI02 structure and the other is CC structure.
3. From the processing performance point of view, silica gel needs vulcanization and heating molding, while TPE can be processed and molded without vulcanization. Silica gel processing is difficult to form, while TPE production and processing are simple.
4. Silica gel has advantages over TPE in high temperature resistance. The temperature resistance of silica gel is generally between 200 and 300 degrees, while TPE is theoretically generally between 130 and 150 degrees, and then it will be aged and cracked.
5. The price of silica gel is generally more than 30,000 yuan per ton, while the price of TPE is generally between 13,000 yuan and 30,000 yuan. TPE has more advantages in price, except for special TPE materials, such as halogen-free flame retardant, food grade, etc.
6. From the cost point of view, silica gel waste cannot be recycled, TPE waste, nozzle materials, leftover materials, etc. can be completely recycled, TPE can save more cost.
After understanding the above characteristics, let's analyze it.
1. Many stores choose materials when Taobao stores go on sale, preferring TPE to silica gel, because choosing English letters as the material properties is higher than that of Chinese characters, and consumers do not understand it anyway.
2. Compared with TPE, pure silica gel has the characteristics of higher cost, better heat resistance, non-recyclability, certain technical threshold for processing, and more single products after combustion and decomposition. For adult products, higher heat resistance means more durability, higher cost and a certain threshold of processing technology means that the products need higher investment and capital. It is not possible for ordinary small workshops and small factories to produce them at will. Although non-recyclability is a problem in environmental protection, it is unique for adult products, indicating that toys are not made from recycled materials, thus reducing various moral risks and more ensuring consumer health.
3. Although some people in the industry advocate environmental protection as their slogan, advocating TPE material to replace silica gel as the basic material, as an adult industry, the product has the unique characteristics of privacy, and basically all major Japanese factories still use silica gel as the basic material.
Please, don't say TPE is better than silica gel, read more!
