3 September 2018
What is silicone made of?
The principal raw material is silicon (Si),
which is the second most abundant element in the earth's crust, following oxygen.
Silicon does not occur as a single element in nature;
it is most commonly found combined with oxygen in the form of silica.
Silica is reduced to produce silicon metal, which is reacted with other compounds to produce silicones?
a class of synthetic resins with both organic and inorganic characteristics.
Silicones consist of a backbone of alternating atoms of silicon and oxygen
known as a siloxane linkage (Si-O-Si),
to which are attached various organic groups. Silicones
are highly resistant to high and low temperatures, resist degradation by UV rays, repel water,
and exhibit a range of other characteristics.
Further, they are produced in many forms including silicone fluids, resins,
liquid rubbers and solid rubbers.
Silicones play a vital role in practically all fields including
the electronics industry, the transportation industry, chemicals,
textiles, foods, cosmetics, and the construction industry.
Abundance (by weight) of elements found in earth's crust (Top 5)
Order | Element | Clarke number* |
---|---|---|
1 | Oxygen | 49.5 |
2 | Silicon | 25.8 |
3 | Aluminum | 7.56 |
4 | Iron | 4.70 |
5 | Calcium | 3.39 |
*Clarke number: indicates the abundance of elements near the earth's surface, expressed as a percentage by weight.
How is silicone made?
Silicone is manufactured according to a process scheme similar to that shown below.
Silicones are grouped into fluids, rubbers, liquid rubbers, resins and silanes.
What types of silicone products are available?
Silicone products are available in many forms, as described below.
Silane monomers (organosilicon compounds)
are hydrolyzed and polymerized to produce
silicones, which are polymers.
DETAILS
Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. will implement
close to ¥110 billion in facility investments
for its silicones business,
one of its main businesses.
It will expand its production capacity of
* silicone monomer,
* the intermediate product of silicones, and
* various types of silicone fluids,
* resins and rubber end products
at the company’s main bases in Japan and globally.
We are receiving a wide variety of requests
for our silicone products from many customers around the world,
and in order to meet these customer requests,
we are implementing a sequential series of new investments.
By means of these investments, we will further strengthen
our integrated production system,
and at the same time, we will fortify our ability
to contribute to issue solutions for our customers.
These facility investments will be implemented
in stages over about a period of two-and-a-half years,
and the expansion of the production capacity
of both silicone monomer and silicone end products
will proceed in parallel.
The breakdown of investment amounts is expected to be
about ¥50 billion
for the expansion of production capacity
of intermediate products such as monomers,
about ¥50 billion
for the expansion of production capacity
of end products and
about ¥10 billion
for the expansion of other secondary facilities
such as infrastructure and shipping.
The expansion of capacity for silicone monomer
will be done at our existing bases in Japan and Thailand,
and in addition to Japan, the capacity expansion
for our group of end products will be carried out
at our existing bases in six overseas countries.
In view of the requests coming from our customers
and the expected demand,
the demand for silicone products
is expected to increase at a rate surpassing
that of the average increase in the world’s GDP.
In this way, we will extensively capture the demand
for silicone products for which this kind of steady growth
is expected, and at the same time, we will flexibly meet it.
For inquires about this matter, please contact: |
Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. Public Relations Dept. Tetsuya Koishikawa Tel: 03-3246-5091, or from outside Japan: 81-3-3246-5091 Fax: 03-3246-5096, or from outside Japan: 81-3-3246-5096 e-mail: sec-pr@shinetsu.jp www.shinetsu.co.jp |
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