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Difference Between Rubber and Silicone

October 9, 2011Posted byMadhu

Thekey differencebetween rubber and silicone is thatthe backbones of most of the rubber forms contain carbon-carbon bonds while the backbone of silicone contains silicon and oxygen.

Both rubber and silicone areelastomers. They are polymeric materials that exhibit the viscoelastic behaviour, which we generally call aselasticity. We can distinguish silicone from rubbers by the atomic structure. In addition, silicones have more special properties than normal rubbers. Rubbers are naturally occurring, or else we can synthesize them, but silicon is only synthetic in nature. Depending on these, we can find the difference between silicone and rubber.

CONTENTS

1.Overview and Key Difference
2.What is Rubber
3.What is Silicone
4.Side by Side Comparison – Rubber vs Silicone in Tabular Form
5.Summary

What is Rubber?

Generally, we consider all the elastomers as rubbers in which dimensions undergo alterations largely by stressing, and also they can go to the original dimensions after removing the stress. These materials showglass transition temperaturedue to their amorphous structure. There are many types of rubbers or elastomers like natural rubber, synthetic polyisoprene, styrene butadiene rubber, nitrile rubber, polychloroprene, and silicone.

However, natural rubber is the rubber that comes to our mind when considering rubbers. We get the natural rubber from the latex of rubber tree (Heveabrasiliensis). Also, cis-1, 4-polyisoprene is the structure of natural rubber. Even though silicone rubbers contain silicon in polymer chains instead of carbon, most of the rubbers contain polymer chains of carbon.

Difference Between Rubber and Silicone

Figure 01: A Natural Rubber Sheet

In addition to that, rubber is useful for many applications like cookware, electronics, automotive applications etc., because of their elastic behaviour. As they are waterproof materials, they are useful as sealants, gloves etc. Rubbers or elastomers are excellent materials for insulating purposes.

What is Silicone?

Silicone is a form of synthetic rubber. We can synthesize it by modifying silicon. Furthermore, this material consists of a backbone of silicon atoms with alternating oxygen atoms. As silicone has high energy silicon-oxygen bonds, it is more resistant to heat than other rubbers or elastomers.

Unlike in other elastomers, the inorganic backbone of silicone makes it highly resistant to fungus and chemicals. In addition, silicone rubber is resistant to ozone and UV attacks because the silicon-oxygen bond is less susceptible to these attacks than the carbon-carbon bond of the backbone in other elastomers. Moreover, this material has a lower tensile strength and lower tear strength than the organic rubbers. However, at high temperatures, it shows excellent tensile and tears properties. This is because of the variation of properties in silicone is less at high temperatures.

Key Difference Between Rubber and Silicone

Figure 02: Mats made of Silicone

比其他弹性体硅胶更加耐用。These are few of the beneficial properties of silicone. Regardless, the fatigue life of silicone rubbers is shorter than the organic rubbers. It is one of the disadvantages of this rubber form. Also, its viscosity is high; therefore, it causes manufacturing problems due to poor flow properties.

What is the Difference Between Rubber and Silicone?

Silicone is a form of synthetic rubber. However, the key difference between rubber and silicone is that the backbone of silicone contains silicon and oxygen, while the backbones of most of the rubber forms contain carbon-carbon bonds.

Moreover, concerning the properties, the difference between rubber and silicone is that the normal rubber is usually less resistant to heat, chemical attacks, fungus attacks, UV and Ozone attacks. But, silicone is more resistant to heat, chemical attacks, fungus attacks, UV and Ozone attacks than normal rubber.

Furthermore, as another significant difference between rubber and silicone, organic rubbers have poor tensile and tear properties at high temperatures while these properties are excellent in silicone rubbers at the same temperature conditions. Therefore, silicone rubber offers special properties, which organic rubbers do not possess.

Difference Between Rubber and Silicone in Tabular Form

Summary – Rubber vs Silicone

Silicone is a form of synthetic rubber. Therefore, it also is a type of elastomer as rubber. The key difference between rubber and silicone is that the backbones of most of the rubber forms contain carbon-carbon bonds while the backbone of silicone contains silicon and oxygen.

Reference:

1. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Silicone.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 19 Jan. 2016.Available here
2. Lazonby, John. “Silicones.” The Essential Chemical Industry Online.Available here

Image Courtesy:

1.”Natural rubber drying 1″By Slashme – Own work,(CC BY-SA 4.0)viaCommons Wikimedia
2.”2359484″ (CC0) viaMax Pixel

Related posts:

Difference Between Polymer and PlasticDifference Between Polymer and Plastic Difference Between Polymer and BiopolymerDifference Between Polymer and Biopolymer Difference Between Polymer and MonomerDifference Between Polymer and Monomer

Filed Under:Polymer Chemistry

About the Author:Madhu

Madhu is a graduate in Biological Sciences with BSc (Honours) Degree and currently persuing a Masters Degree in Industrial and Environmental Chemistry. With a mind rooted firmly to basic principals of chemistry and passion for ever evolving field of industrial chemistry, she is keenly interested to be a true companion for those who seek knowledge in the subject of chemistry.

Comments

  1. sazuresays

    April 15, 2019 at 1:15 am

    Thank you greatly for providing this information.

    Reply

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