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Topic: Dissolving acetate based silicone  (Read 13779 times)

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Offline nostromo

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Dissolving acetate based silicone
« on: February 11, 2008, 05:28:12 PM »
Can someone tell me how can I dissolve acetate based silicone or is it possible to do such
thing? I'm trying to make some kind of mold by using silicone because liquid latex is not available in my country. The silicone is to thick so I need to dissolve it somehow.

Offline Alpha-Omega

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Re: Dissolving acetate based silicone
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2008, 12:27:54 AM »
Cured silicone:  Silicone is thermoset so it will not dissolve. Hydrocarbon solvents will cause it to soften and swell which may make it easier to remove but the hard part is keeping the solvent in contact with the silicone long enough to be absorbed before it evaporates.

General Electric's Sealants & Adhesives website has information on removing cured and uncured silicone and says it is VERY hard to remove. They give step by step instructions for removing silicone sealant on different types of surfaces such as wood, tile, etc. The recommend using mineral spirits and rubbing alcohol which are less  abrasive than the stuff used by the guys above, but will probably take longer to dissolve. GE's step-by-steps rely on a little bit of elbow grease to speed up the process.

http://www.geadvancedmaterials.com/geam/gesa/Residential/en/ProductSupport/SealantsAndAdhesivesBasicsLanding/sealantsandadhesivesbasics_landing.html

Silicone sealant removal thread:
http://www.thekrib.com/TankHardware/glass.html#10

Per wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicone

Moldmaking

Two-part silicone systems are used to create rubber molds which can be used for production casting of resins, foams, rubber and low-temp alloys.

A mold made of silicone generally requires little or no mold release or surface preparation as most materials do not adhere to moldmaking silicone.


Injection Molding of liquid silicone rubber:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injection_molding_of_liquid_silicone_rubber

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