The global manufacturing industry has faced many challenges and has had to adapt to growing megatrends across the globe to remain competitive. Manufacturers have had to become more customer focused and flexible to keep up with consumers who are better informed about products on the market and expect new and improved products on demand. In addition, factory floors have also had to adapt to digitization by incorporating latest-technology systems and equipment, with an increasing uptake of robotics to complement factory workers on the assembly line. Adapting to these megatrends while optimizing production, logistics and distribution efficiencies is essential to ensuring that companies remain competitive.
As these changes are driving advances in manufacturing processes and technologies, they are also driving material improvements to ensure that final products are reliable and of high quality. Silicone foams for compression gaskets address customer needs for greater flexibility, production efficiencies and the increasing use of robotics on the assembly line (see Figure 1). Reformulated to meet current REACH standards, the foams are a hybrid technology, falling under room temperature vulcanization (RTV) solutions but using an addition cure mechanism that is typical for high-temperature vulcanization (HTV) products. The silicone foams are designed to be dispensed and cured directly on parts to form an integrated compression gasket.