Fascinating Silicones
Material forms that fuel innovation
Silicones make other materials work better – more efficiently, longer and more reliably. They fuel our imagination and make new products possible. In a society that runs on performance and strives for sustainability, silicones are essential materials.
Silicones take numerous forms and can be engineered to deliver an almost unlimited range of enabling and problem-solving benefits. When it comes to sustainability, Dow is continually reviewing its products and their compositions to ensure they meet evolving customers’ needs. We are actively investing and innovating to make sure our silicone materials continue to bring their unique performance and sustainability benefits to society.
The unique benefits of silicone science
Thanks to their chemistry, silicones are unique materials unlike anything else in this world. They combine the advantages of silicon-based glass and carbon-based plastic. Like glass, silicones are temperature- and moisture-resistant, chemically inert and dielectric. Like plastics, silicones are strong and able to assume many forms.
Because of their unique properties, silicones can be engineered to perform a wide range of critical functions in today’s world – from adhesives to release agents, antifoams to foam stabilizers. No matter what solution you are looking for, chances are silicones have already been used.
A host of solutions that meet people and societal needs
From automotive to building and construction, personal care to electronics and lighting, Dow’s silicone materials are synonymous with efficiency, durability and reliability. With their unique combination of characteristics, silicones outlast and outperform most organic materials. In short, they make sustainable innovation possible.
- Good wetting and spreading: Silicones flow easily and evenly over surfaces that would cause other materials to bead up.
- Long-term elasticity, pliability and flexibility: Stretch them, twist them, drop things on them and compress them, and they will quickly return to their original shape.
- Weather resistance: Silicones are known for their long-term resistance to rain, sleet, snow, ozone, acid rain and damage from the sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays.
- Stability under challenging conditions: Silicones are highly resistant to damage and degradation from extreme temperatures, thermal shock, chemicals and oxidation.
- Resistance to aging: Silicones do not harden, crack, peel, crumble, dry out, rot or become brittle with age the way carbon-based organic materials do.
- Inertness: Silicones don't react with most materials, unless intentionally designed to do so.
- Water repellency: Silicone materials are naturally hydrophobic, making them right for all kinds of waterproofing applications.
- Strong adhesion properties: Silicones can provide outstanding adhesion, even between substrates that normally cannot be bonded with other materials.
- Excellent dielectric properties: Silicones are popular as electrical insulators, helping to protect the integrity of wires, cables and electric circuitry
Learn more about their extreme versatility, specific applications and market uses in the resources below.
Silicone solutions showcase
Silicones take numerous forms and can be engineered to deliver an almost unlimited range of enabling and problem-solving benefits.
Material forms that fuel innovation
Silicones take many forms—from free-flowing resins, rigid plastics, flexible rubbers, greases and powders to fluids thinner than water or thick as paste. From these basic classes of silicone materials, thousands of unique silicone products have been engineered to meet the needs of product designers, manufacturers, people and municipalities around the world.
