01 Feedstock
Ore, monomer, fibre, mineral or scrap that can legally become Silicone.
Making Silicone is a chain: feedstock, conversion (Kipping / Rochow 1940s), forming, heat, finish, install.
Skip a step and the properties chapter is describing a different object.
Process steps
02 Conversion
Kipping / Rochow 1940s
03 Forming
Cast, spin, weave, sinter, foam, laminate or coat — the step that sets anisotropy.
04 Heat / cure
Temper, vulcanise, calcine or dry: skip it and the datasheet is fiction.
05 Finish
Coatings, sizings, facers, galvanizing, anodising, painting.
06 Install
Fasteners, adhesives, DFT, compression, dryness — site quality is a material property.
Routes
Primary
Virgin route around United Kingdom / US.
Recycled / secondary
Recycling exists but quality or energy often disappoints.
Specialty
High-spec grades leave the commodity mill.
Site-applied
Coatings, sprays, casts — the factory is sometimes a jobsite.
Diagrams
Silicone process path
Feedstock to installed product.
- Feed — in
- Convert — mill
- Form — shape
- Finish — coat
- Install — out
- Spec — code
- Scrap loop — rec
Silicone heat & fire
Energy in, class out.
- Heat — in
- Silicone — mat
- λ / char — out
- Ignition — fire
- Euroclass — class
- Assembly — sys
Hard limits
Envelope
Melting/softening elastomer; resins cure; conductivity ~0.2 W/m·K; filled greases conduct.
Environment
Moisture, UV, chlorides, alkalis or oxygen — pick the one that actually kills Silicone.
Code
Fire class often high LOI vs organic rubbers is a starting letter, not a wall rating.
Process energy and scrap quality belong in the carbon passport, not in a footnote.
Keep exploring
More in Polymers
🧴
Polyethylene
The world’s volume plastic — bags, bottles, pipes and the UHMWPE cousin in medical and ballistic fibre.
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Plunkett’s slippery fluoropolymer — non-stick, chemical linings and a high-temp plastic that still has a fire-and-fume story.
Overall 41 🛞Natural rubber
Cis-1,4-polyisoprene from Hevea — tyres still drink most of the world’s latex.
Overall 44