SILICONE-RUBBER, ITS DEVELOPMENT AND TECHNOLOGICAL-PROGRESS

This paper discusses the development and technological progress of silicone rubber since it first became commercially available within the U. S. in 1944 from both the Dow Corning Corporation and the General Electric Company. Advances in silicone rubber have been brought about by the need to satisfy practical market place requirements not fulfilled by other elastomers, and certainly not least in importance, by the scientific challenge to improve technology. Fundamentally involved in the use of silicone rubber in fulfillment of market needs is the combination of the performance properties that silicone rubbers exhibit. These properties include excellent weather and thermal stability, ozone and oxidation resistance, good electrical properties, extreme low-temperature flexibility, low activation energy for viscous flow, high gas permeability, good release from organic materials, good solvent and oil resistance, physiological inertness (compatible with body tissue), and being curable by a variety of methods at both elevated and ambient temperatures. 33 Refs.