How Strong is Silicone Rubber?

Silicone rubber is an extremely strong material that will not degrade when exposed to damaging environmental factors, such as UV rays or ozone, and retains excellent resistance properties against abrasive temperatures, tearing, and chemicals due to its unique silicon-oxygen backbone structure. The silicone to oxygen backbone structure of silicone elastomer gives it its unique resistance properties against damaging outdoor factors, heat, and excellent performance in abrasive temperatures. This means that rubber silicone products are stable when exposed to very high or low temperatures; however, in general, silicone rubber does not have high tear or tensile strength. For instance, “The molecular structure of silicone rubber results in a very flexible – but weak – chain. Silicones are very stable at low and high temperatures. Although fillers may improve properties somewhat, tear and tensile strengths remain relatively low” (sciencedirect.com). Despite this, heat proof silicone is a stable material when exposed to extreme high and low temperatures meaning they are better at retaining durable properties than organic rubber variations. For example, “Some properties such as elongation, creep, cyclic flexing, tear strength, compression set, dielectric strength (at high voltage), thermal conductivity, fire resistance and in some cases tensile strength can be – at extreme temperatures – far superior to organic rubbers in general…” (Wikipedia.org). This allows silicone rubber to remain a durable and reliable material for high (or low) temperature applications that may melt or crack other elastomers. Most natural rubbers become brittle when exposed to low temperatures or melt when exposed to high temperatures; however, silicone rubber is able to retain its superior flexibility, even at extreme high and low temperatures, without tearing. In addition, hard silicone sheets are often available in multiple different durometers, including 40A, 50A, 60A, and 70A durometer ratings. These durometer ratings refer to the level of hardness of a material with higher ratings being harder materials. This hardness rating “refers to the resistance of a material to scratching or indentation, and a qualitative measure of the strength of the material” (engineeringclicks.com). Therefore, hard silicone will become much more durable and tear resistant as the durometer ratings climb higher. Silicone’s unique resistance properties allow it to remain a strong and long-lasting material in outdoor settings as well as remain a flexible material in extreme high and low temperatures without tearing.

Is Silicone a Natural Material?

Silicone is not a natural material but silica, one of the main building blocks of silicone rubber, is naturally found in most types of sand. Silicon is the chemical element that derives from silica and is a naturally occurring element on the periodic table; however, silicone rubber, which is made out of silicon, is a synthetic material. Rather than having a carbon-to-carbon backbone structure as most elastomers do, silicone rubber consists of a silicon-to-oxygen backbone structure. Case in point, “Silicone is made of rearranged silicon and oxygen (like sand), but unlike sand, it also has the addition of hydrocarbons – which is exactly what gives it all those useful qualities of plastic” (treehugger.com). The process of creating silicone starts with the extraction of the silicon chemical element from silica. To extract silicon from silica, the material “is heated with carbon in an industrial furnace to extract the silicon, which is then passed through hydrocarbons to create a new polymer with an inorganic silicon-oxygen backbone and carbon-based side groups” (earthhero.com). Because silicone rubber is not a natural material, it is not biodegradable meaning it will survive in landfills for years to come; however, it can be recycled. This makes silicone rubber a naturally based material, but it is not eco-friendly or biodegradable.