Silicone is a polymer that has high resilience, is easy to manufacture and shape, and is also used extensively in many applications and products. Natural rubber is extremely flexible and has a variety of colors for application. In this article, we’ll look at the difference between silicone and natural rubber.
Natural rubber, with the chemical name polyisopropene, is produced naturally from the sap of the rubber tree. Silicone, on the other hand, is a synthetic material. While both materials are elastomers, they differ in many of their properties.
Some of these properties are summarised in the table below.
Both natural rubber and silicone are able to operate at very low temperatures – down to -50 °C.
However, silicone is able to operate at much higher temperatures than rubber. Natural rubber starts deteriorating at 80 °C and melts at 120 °C. Silicone is able to be formulated to operate up to 230 °C. Silicone also has significantly better flame resistance than rubber. For high-temperature applications, silicone is certainly the better choice.
Neither silicone nor natural rubber has good resistance to hydrocarbon fuels and lubricants. However, silicone exhibits a wider chemical resistance than natural rubber, often making it the better choice for chemical sealing applications.
The choice of material in chemical applications will depend, however, on the exact chemicals that the material will come into contact with. Both materials are used in applications such as piping and tank lining.
Natural rubber exhibits much higher tensile strength, tear strength, and abrasion resistance than silicone. It is used in high-wear applications such as tire treads and conveyor belts. Silicone has relatively low abrasion resistance, and in applications where a part will be subjected to abrasion and wear, rubber is a better choice.
Silicone has excellent resistance to weathering and UV and is often found in outdoor applications such as door and window seals. In contrast, natural rubber weathers very quickly and is not suited to outdoor applications. If your application involves exposure to the elements, silicone is the better choice.
In some applications, silicone will outperform natural rubber; for example, our masks are made of silicone, which is durable, soft, and easy to sculpt.
So, the silicone mask is very realistic, stands up to heterogeneous environments, and is very comfortable to wear.
