Maximizing the benefits of high consistency rubber silicone for injection molding and leveraging its versatility requires special considerations to manufacture quality parts. As with organic polymer compounds, the process for producing parts with HCR silicone includes feeding silicone rubber into the machine's heated barrel and injecting it into a mold, where it vulcanizes into the designed shape of the part.
Due to its inorganic polymer backbone, HCR silicone processing poses unique challenges when compared to organic polymer-based rubber compounds. This paper addresses those challenges and how to meet them.