What is the difference between silica gel and TPE?

What are TPE and silica gel

Silica gel is a thermosetting elastomer, with the advantages of safety and non-toxic, insoluble in water and any solvent, non-toxic and tasteless, chemical stability, in addition to strong alkali, hydrofluoric acid and no reaction with any substance, high adsorption performance, good thermal stability, chemical stability, widely used in adult products, food products.

TPE is a kind of thermoplastic elastomer, which is environmentally friendly, non-toxic, easy to color, feel smooth and soft, hardness range 0A-120A, simple processing and molding, do not need curing processing, can be recycled and reused, reduce the cost.It can be coated with PP, PE, PC, PS, ABS and other plastic materials (secondary injection), or molded separately.

Differences between TPE and silica gel:

1. TPE is a general term for a variety of elastomer materials with rubber elasticity at room temperature and fusible flow at high temperature.Silica gel is a kind of special rubber, which has good mechanical strength, abrasion resistance and high temperature resistance after crosslinking. It belongs to thermosetting rubber. After vulcanization, it will not melt after reheating and will burn when the temperature is too high.

2. They are different in analysis structure: Silica gel is an elastomer connected by the main chain silicon-oxygen bond, and the side chain is generally methyl, namely CH3.TPE is a thermoplastic elastomer, consisting of styrene, olefins and polyurethane. The main molecular structure of the two types is the SI02 structure and the CC structure.

3. From the perspective of processing performance: Silicone needs vulcanization for heating forming, while TPE can be processed and formed without vulcanization.Silicone processing is difficult to form, and TPE production and processing is simple.

4. Silica gel has advantages over TPE in high temperature resistance.Silica gel temperature resistance is generally between 200 ° C and 300 ° C, while TPE theory generally TPE temperature resistance between 130 ° C and 150 ° C, and then high aging cracking.

5. The price of silica gel is generally more than 30,000 pieces per ton, while the general PRICE of TPE is between 13,000 and 30,000 yuan. In terms of price, TPE has more advantages, except for special TPE materials, such as halogen-free, flame retardant, food-grade and other characteristics.

6. From the perspective of cost, silica gel wastes cannot be recycled. TPE wastes, nozzle materials, scraps and so on can be completely recycled and reused, and TPE can save more costs.