INVESTIGATING THE SURFACE ENERGY OF SILICONE

摘要

Liberty Orchards is a company that makes some very sticky candies that make processing difficult. The current process requires refrigerating the candy slabs overnight and cutting the next day. By making a mold for casting the candy, the two processes would be eliminated, reducing the cycle time and the cost per part. Previous research has shown that silicone is a possible material choice. The project looked at various elastomers and fluoroadditives to reduce the surface energy of silicone. The different formulations have been tested based on the contact angle goniometer, tensiometer, water resistance, and SEM.