Blow molding of silicon rubbers - Innovative process technology for the production of elastomeric hollow parts

摘要

The blow molding process offers the possibility of reproducible, fully automatic and therefore cost-efficient mass production of complex hollow bodies. Due to the poor mechanical properties of uncured rubber, it has not yet been used for the manufacturing of elastomeric hollow parts. It is shown that with defined pre-cross-linked material the blow molding of solid silicone rubbers is possible. First, the setup of a laboratory scale blow moulding machine and their characteristics is presented. Then a detailed analysis of the blow moulding process, whereby parts with a surface stretch ratio of 3.6: 1 were made, is discussed.