Silicone Rubber

Silicone Rubber Extrusion

Here at Advanced Seals & Gaskets, we offer high-quality silicone rubber extrusions, manufactured in a host of profiles, from a simple length of cord, through to complex multi-cavity or contoured forms. Silicone rubber extrusions are designed to serve a number of purposes including surface or product protection, as a seal against air, gas, fluid and dust or to simply create an aesthetically pleasing edge trim or buffer. All our solid rubber extrusions are made to order, manufactured using samples or drawings provided by our customers from which a tool or ‘die’ is made and a sample produced for approval prior to the final order being completed.

 

What is a Silicone Rubber Extrusion? 

An ‘Extrusion’ is where raw material, in this case, silicone rubber is turned into a specific, usable shape using an extruder machine that works using high pressure and a die (a shaped tool). The raw material is pushed through the die creating the finished profile, in continuous lengths, with a consistent cross-sectional shape running throughout. Solid rubber extrusions can be made as a ‘solid’ shape such as a cord, or ‘hollow’ where a hole runs through the entire length of the extrusion just leaving the outer wall. Some of the most commonly used solid rubber extrusions are D-sections, P-sections, door seals, window seals, U-channels and cords, many of which can be supplied with a self-adhesive finish

Silicone (SI) rubber is an excellent material for producing high-performance extrusions that can operate at high and low temperatures, available in a range of types each with its own set of characteristics, properties and resistances to suit different exposures and environments.

 

Why use Silicone Rubber Extrusions?

Silicone rubber extrusions can take many different forms which can be found used within many applications for sealing against air, gas and liquid, cushioning against vibrations & rattles and as surface protection.  Extrusions are perfect for applications where off the shelf seals or gaskets will not fit and a bespoke profile or shape is required and the quickest and simplest way to create lengths of identical products even when manufactured in bulk. Customers often choose silicone rubber as it has a number of excellent characteristics and features such as a broad working temperature range for use in hot and cold environments, with high-temperature versions also available for extreme heat. Silicone rubber extrusions are resistant to UV, weathering, ozone, many chemicals and fungal growth, they also offer excellent tensile strength, tear resistance, electrical insulating properties and are available in food safe and flame retardant grades too.

 

Different Grades

Advanced Seals & Gaskets Ltd have a network of material manufacturers, giving our customers more choice, our most popular silicone rubber grades being:

  • High-Temperature Silicone
  • FDA Approved Silicone
  • Metal Detectable Silicone
  • Fluorosilicone
  • Platinum cured Silicone
  • Conductive Silicone

 

Benefits of Silicone Rubber Extrusion

The grade of silicone rubber used will depend on the industry, environment and application it is going to be used in and what it will be exposed to. Depending on the material used, some of the benefits offered by silicone rubber include:

  • Popular for internal, external applications
  • Wide operating temperature range 
  • Variety of grades, colours, hardnesses available
  • Impermeable to water, dust, air and gases
  • Resistance to oils and chemicals
  • Excellent resistance to UV,  ozone, weathering and ageing
  • Offers tear, abrasion and impact resistance
  • Extrusions create bulk quantities of identical products
  • Bespoke products can be easily created using silicone rubber
  • Available in Food Safe and flame retardant grades