How Is Silicone Made? What Is It Made of?
To start with, silicon is derived from silica, since silicon doesn’t exist by itself. To achieve this, silica, a mineral quartz that is abundant in sand, is heated by up to 1800˚C. The resulting silicon is cooled and ground until it becomes a fine powder.
Next, methyl chloride is added to the fine powder before it is heated once again to start the chemical reaction that will turn the mixture into methyl chlorosilane. Then, it is distilled to extract dimethyldichlorosilane.
Water is added to dimethyldichlorosilane to start the condensation process which will turn it into polydimethylsiloxane. From there, it can undergo different processes depending on what the silicone will be used for. Polysiloxane, or what is commonly known as rubber silicone, is the form that is often used in kitchenware.
To get a better idea of how silicone is manufactured, you can check out this video.
Daniel
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