When it comes to silicone, many people are puzzled. "I have only heard about silicon in Silicon Valley. I know that silicon is used in computers. I have never heard of silicone." When some people hear silicone, the first reaction is this.

It is true that silicone is not as widely known as plastics, metals, etc., but it is as versatile as other materials in our lives.

Today, let's not talk about chemical formula or technology, just talk about silicone in our production and life.

military use
In other words, the exploration and research of organosilicon compounds can be traced back to the 18th century. However, the rapid development of organosilicon was due to its use as a special material for military equipment such as aircraft, rockets, and tanks in World War II. Silicone material is a typical semi-inorganic semi-organic polymer material with unique properties such as high and low temperature resistance, oxygen resistance, light resistance and weather resistance, so it is widely used in aircraft structural parts, resistors, radio electronic equipment. Surface sealing, etc.

It's not intuitive enough to say that, so let's look at an example. It is said that when Germany invaded the former Soviet Union, it was encountering a severe winter that was once in a century. All tanks and armored equipment in the Soviet Union and Germany became a pile of scrap iron due to the freezing of oil and gas required for operation. Faced with this harsh situation, Soviet scientists discovered that a substance mixed with oil could prevent freezing and thus gain an advantage in the war against Germany. This substance is what we call silicone oil today.

Aerospace
"This is only one small step for me, but one giant leap for mankind as a whole." This sentence became known to people all over the world with the successful landing of the United States on the moon in 1969. American astronaut Armstrong stayed on the surface of the moon. The first human footprint was made, and the sole material of the boots he was wearing at that time was silicone rubber produced by Dow Corning!

Of course, today, silicone materials are more widely used in aerospace, instrument oil, damping oil, special hydraulic oil, advanced coatings, etc. are inseparable from silicone materials.

Just as many scientific and technological products are popular in life due to military wars, the same is true for silicone materials! Due to its excellent performance, silicone materials were quickly used in all aspects of production and life after World War II! It can be said that from opening our glasses in the morning to going to bed at night, we deal with silicone products all day long.

cosmetic
The use of silicones in cosmetics began in 1950 with the hand cream produced by Dow Corning. Today, silicones have been successfully used in perfumes, waxes, conditioners, lipsticks, shaving creams, deodorants, eyeshadows, nail polishes, and sunscreens in hundreds of categories.

In the morning shower, the silicone oil in shampoo and conditioner makes our hair smoother, and the silicone oil in the skin cream applied to the face can cover the facial skin with a very thin gauze mask, thereby To achieve the effect of retaining moisture and protecting the skin; the oily foundation, nail polish, sunscreen, and eyeshadow contain cyclic dimethylsiloxane, which does not feel cool on the skin when it volatilizes, and leaves no residue.

In recent years, the application of organosilicon in the daily chemical industry has developed rapidly, and it has become one of the main applications of organosilicon. Silicone-containing products are found in almost all personal care products, and these versatile functional materials continue to expand as new products become available. Due to the easily adjustable functional properties and excellent sensory properties of silicones, coupled with the environmental and consumer safety benefits of using them, silicones are increasingly being used to partially or fully replace organic raw materials in cosmetics and scrubs. useful ingredient.

Textile
Textiles such as towels used to wipe the body after a bath, clothes we wear, etc. are also inseparable from silicone materials.

Polydimethylsiloxane, as the earliest silicone for printing and dyeing auxiliaries, greatly improves the washing resistance of clothes; hydroxypolysiloxane improves the wrinkle resistance of clothes; polyether-modified silicone improves the durability of fabrics. Antistatic ability. Fluorine-based modified silicone softener has the effect of deepening fabric dyeing!

Therefore, the softness of towels, the smoothness of shirts, and the antistatic properties of clothes all depend on powerful silicone materials.