Corrugated silicone hose is an important high-temperature and high-pressure hose, which has been widely used in automotive, aerospace, medical equipment and other fields. The molding process of the corrugated silicone tube is an important factor that determines its quality and performance. Let’s introduce the molding process of the corrugated silicone tube.
The molding process of corrugated silicone hose can be divided into four types
Molding method:
Compression molding refers to putting silicone rubber into a mold, heating and applying pressure in the mold to form the silicone rubber hose into the shape of the mold. The specific molding process is as follows:
- Prepare the mold: Prepare the corresponding mold according to the shape and size of the corrugated silicone tube to be produced. Molds can be divided into single-cavity and multi-cavity. Single-cavity molds can only produce one silicone hose at a time, while multi-cavity molds can produce multiple silicone hoses at the same time.
- Preparation of silicone rubber material: According to the requirements of the silicone hose to be produced, select an appropriate silicone rubber material and add corresponding additives and fillers.
- Put the silicone rubber into the mold: Put the prepared silicone rubber into the mold and make sure that the silicone rubber is evenly distributed in the mold.
- Heating: Put the mold with silicone rubber into the heating furnace, and heat the silicone rubber at a certain temperature to make it soft.
- Applying pressure: Put the heated mold into the press and apply appropriate pressure to make the silicone rubber form the shape of the corrugated silicone tube in the mold.
- Mold removal: After waiting for the silicone rubber to cool down, take the silicone hose out of the mold to complete the molding.
Manual molding method:
The hand-forming method refers to workers manually shaping the silicone rubber hose. The specific molding process is as follows:
- Preparation of silicone rubber material: According to the requirements of the silicone hose to be produced, select an appropriate silicone rubber material and add corresponding additives and fillers.
Prepare the template: prepare the corresponding template according to the shape and size of the corrugated silicone tube to be produced. The formwork can be made of steel or wood, and different materials are selected according to different production requirements and processes. - Put the silicone rubber into the template: put the prepared silicone rubber into the template, and make sure that the silicone rubber is evenly distributed in the template.
- Manual molding: Before the silicone rubber hose is solidified, pressurize the template by hand to form the shape of the corrugated silicone hose. This process requires manual operation and strict control over the molding process of the silicone hose to ensure the quality and performance of the hose.
- Mold removal: Wait for the silicone rubber hose to cool down, then take the silicone hose out of the template to complete the molding.
Extrusion method
Extrusion molding is to put the silicone soft rubber strip into the extruder for extrusion and stretching to make it into a silicone hose of the desired shape and size. The advantage of this molding method is that it has high production efficiency, can quickly produce large quantities of corrugated silicone tubes, and can realize automatic production.
The specific production process is as follows:
- Prepare the silicone soft rubber strip: cut the silicone rubber into the desired length of the silicone soft rubber strip, and make sure its surface is smooth, free of bubbles and defects.
- Loading into the extruder: Load the silicone soft rubber strip into the feed port of the extruder, and set the parameters of the extruder, including extrusion speed, extrusion pressure and extrusion temperature and other parameters.
- Extrusion molding: through the heating and pressure of the extruder, the soft silicone rubber strip is extruded and stretched into the desired shape of the corrugated silicone tube. This process needs to strictly control the parameters of the extruder and the quality of the soft silicone rubber strip to ensure the molding quality of the corrugated silicone tube.
- Cutting and finishing: Cut the extruded corrugated silicone tube to the required length, and finish and finish its surface to ensure its smooth and flawless surface.
- Packaging and quality inspection: Pack the finished corrugated silicone tube, and conduct quality inspection and testing to ensure that its quality and performance meet the needs of users.
In addition to extrusion molding, compression molding and hand molding, which are the three main corrugated silicone tube molding methods, there are some other molding methods, which we will introduce one by one below.
- Injection molding: Injection molding is a common plastic molding method, and it is also used in the silicone industry. In this method, silicone is heated to a molten state and injected into a mold for molding. Compared with extrusion molding, injection molding is more complex in process, but it can also achieve higher precision and complexity. However, silicone injection molding requires special injection molding machines and molds, and the production cost is relatively high.
- Composite molding: Composite molding is to compound different types of silica gel, and form a composite silica gel tube by hot pressing and other methods. This method can realize the compounding of different hardness and materials, so as to improve the performance and scope of application of the product. However, the cost of composite molding is high, and the process complexity is relatively high.
- Coating molding: Coating molding is to coat silica gel on a certain substrate, and then form a corrugated silicone tube by heating and pressure. This method can be used to produce corrugated silicone tubes with specific functions, such as antistatic, anti-ultraviolet, etc. However, the coated silicone layer may have problems such as cracking and peeling, and parameters such as coating quality and pressure need to be strictly controlled.
In general, there are many options for the molding process of corrugated silicone tubes, and each method has its advantages, disadvantages and scope of application. Manufacturers should choose the appropriate molding method according to their own production requirements and technical level, and strengthen the monitoring and quality control of the production process during the production process to ensure that the corrugated silicone tube produced meets the needs of users. At the same time, manufacturers should also pay attention to research and development and innovation, continuously improve and perfect the production process, improve product quality and performance, and provide users with better products and services.
The above is to explain the corrugated silicone hose manufacturing process, if you think it useful, please forward to your friends around. For those who want to purchase corrugated hoses in large quantities, please contact our silicone hose specialist.