WUERZBURG, Germany—Ursula Nollenberger, product director LSR components at Trelleborg Sealing Solutions, focused on wine bottle stoppers at the KZ Sueddeutsches Kunststoffzentrum Silicone Elastomers conference, held March 22-23 in Wuerzburg.
Options included a thermoplastic grip with a lower section overmolded with LSR, and two all-LSR corks, one in a more flexible material.
The simulation showed unacceptably high insertion forces for the LSR/thermoplastic and the rigid all-LSR stopper, while the softer all-LSR stopper had an acceptably low 32 N insertion force.
LSR/thermoplastic and rigid all-LSR stoppers withstood higher pressures, even though the 1.1 bar level for the rigid all-LSR stopper would be good for a sparkling wine, Nollenberger said. The ability of the softer all-LSR stopper to withstand 0.64 N was rated acceptable for conventional wines.
Material developments
Oliver Franssen at Leverkusen, Germany-based LSR producer Momentive Performance Materials talked about using self-lubricating LSR to seal automotive connectors.
Franssen said there is a trend toward replacing separate round seals around each wire with one larger surface area rectangular mat-shaped seal sealing a number of wires.
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