Sponge silicone tapes are highly adaptable. The strips of cushioned film are available in different thicknesses. They’re also designed to be easy to cut and slit into a number of shapes and widths, so that adaptability factor represents a major benefit. Further profiled by die cut equipment, the pressure sensitive tape is employed in many applications. Here, for your edification, are the most common uses of silicone tapes.
Enclosure Gaskets
Picture a piece of equipment running inside a harshly maintained environment. The heat scorches an enclosure. Elsewhere, the humid air binds with a chemical component. Soft rubbers and tough plastics sag and deform as oily substances splash. It’s a positively toxic setting, but the shaped sponge silicone tape is providing a seal within the enclosure. Outside, the materials are aging. Inside the enclosure, delicate electronic components are maintaining their original material characteristics.
Environmental Seals
Weather seal gaskets have evolved greatly. In the past, a slamming wooden door would crush the foamy tape as it lay in a crease within a threshold frame. That ugly strip fell away in tatters, but a robust sponge tape holds firm. That’s because the material is imbued with a compression-resistance feature. Even if the spongy stuff is crushed between a heavy door and its frame one-hundred times a day, it will retain its original outlines. Coated with a pressure sensitive acrylic adhesive, the sponge silicone foam anchors itself into that frame for the long run.
Temperature Extremes: A Silicone Shield
Employed as a heat shielding product, die cut sponge silicone strips function capably, even when there are great thermal extremes in play. Able to adhere to another surface when the mercury level pushes upwards of 260°C, the tape uses its silicone base as a potent barrier. That’s a feature that gains prominence when it’s partnered with the flame retardant properties of the tape. Used in boiler room enclosures and furnace electrical boxes, this material thrives when it’s used in a high-temperature setting.Certain additives gift sponge silicone tapes with supplemented features. Fibreglass, for example, is added to the tape as a dimensional stabilizer. Again, die cutting sponge products benefit from this design improvement. Otherwise, the foamy adhesive cushioning will adhere joints and perform as a gasketing solution. Used in weathering applications, perhaps in automotive and aerospace assemblies, this substance acts as a superior heat and vibration shield. Expect to find the spongy adhesive strips shaped by die cutting machines. Cut to precisely fit enclosure gaskets and high-intensity light housings, the tape seals and cushions.