Performance Difference Analysis of TPE and Silica Gel

With the wide application of TPE/TPR thermoplastic elastomers, TPE materials have the characteristics of plastics and the elasticity of rubber. At present, silica gel products used in a few industries have been replaced by TPE materials, but not all TPE materials can be involved and replaced, so today we will discuss with you about T. What are the main differences between PE and silica gel?

One: What are TPE and silica gel?

Silica gel is a thermosetting elastomer with the advantages of safety, non-toxicity, insolubility in water and any solvent, non-toxicity, odorless and stable chemical properties. It does not react with any substance except strong alkali and hydrofluoric acid. It has high adsorption performance, good thermal stability and stable chemical properties. It is widely used in adult products and food products.

TPE is a thermoplastic elastomer, which is environmentally friendly, non-toxic, easy to colour, smooth and soft, with a hardness range of 0 A-120 A. It has simple processing and forming, does not need vulcanization processing, can be recycled and reused, and reduces costs. It can be coated and bonded with PP, PE, PC, PS, ABS and other plastic materials (secondary injection), or can be formed separately.

I am 100% sure that some people will pick up the words, saying that since the silica gel material is non-toxic and tasteless, how many products you target are silica gel material, how can I get it or have a great atmosphere, you may not cheat consumers? I can only say that you think too naive, what else is pure material now, just like steel made of tungsten steel with tungsten element added is stronger, silicon element added, and silicon steel made of better ductility, like each manufacturer actually uses silica gel as the basic material, in order to achieve their own requirements of flexibility, elasticity, design. Requirements, will add some other formula for synthesis, so the toys you get are certainly not 100% pure silica gel, but synthetic silica gel.

Two: The difference between TPE and silica gel:

1. TPE is a general term for elastomeric materials with rubber elasticity at room temperature and melting flow at high temperature. Silica gel is a kind of special rubber. It has good mechanical strength, wear resistance and high temperature resistance after crosslinking. It belongs to thermosetting rubber. It will not melt after curing and reheating. When the temperature is too high, it will burn. The product of complete combustion is water and silicon dioxide.

2. Their analytical structures are different: silica gel is an elastomer connected by silicone-oxygen bonds in the main chain, and side chains are generally methyl groups, namely CH3. TPE is a thermoplastic elastomer with styrene, olefin and polyurethane. The main molecular structure difference between TPE and polyurethane is SI02 structure and CC structure.

3. Processing performance: silica gel needs vulcanization and heating, TPE can be processed without vulcanization. Silica gel processing is difficult to form, while TPE production and processing is 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 generally between 130 and 150 degrees Celsius in theory. Aging and cracking occur at higher temperatures.

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 and 30,000 yuan. TPE is more advantageous in price, besides special TPE materials, such as halogen-free flame retardant, food grade and so on.

6. From the cost point of view, the waste of silica gel can not be recycled. TPE waste, nozzle material, scrap material and so on can be completely recycled. TPE can save more costs.

Having understood the above characteristics, let's analyze them.

1. Many stores choose materials when Taobao stores are on shelves. They like TPE and don't like silica gel because they choose English letters as material attributes which are much higher than Chinese characters. Anyway, consumers don't understand them.

2. Compared with TPE, pure silica gel has the characteristics of higher cost, better heat resistance, non-recyclability, certain processing technology threshold, and more single product after combustion decomposition. For adult products, higher heat resistance means more durability, higher cost and a certain processing technology threshold means that the product needs higher investment and capital, not ordinary small workshop small factory can be produced at will. Although non-recyclability is a problem in environmental protection, it is only for adult products. It shows that toys are not made from recycled materials, so reducing various moral hazards can better protect consumers'health.

3. Although some people in the industry advocate using TPE material instead of silica gel material as the basic material under the slogan of environmental protection, as an adult industry, the product has the characteristics of privacy and uniqueness. Almost all major Japanese factories still use silica gel as the basic material.

4. Please stop saying that TPE is better than silica gel. Read more books!

Dongguan Dechuang Chemical Co., Ltd. is a professional manufacturer of elastomer TPE/TPR rubber and plastic raw materials. At present, our company has developed TPE imitation silica gel materials. TPE replaces silica gel materials. As a professional sales specialist of TPE raw materials, I am in charge of telling you that TPE can only replace part of the silica gel field. In the past, TPE's high temperature resistance and oil resistance can not be completely replaced by silica gel, so in the development of new products to understand the product needs to reconfirm the material!