Silicone hose manufacturing lies in its advantages of extrusion technology. The use of extrusion as a physical production and manufacturing technology for silicone is much better than the past hot pressing or hot stamping technology. Together with the new process technology of extruding silica gel, CO2 can be used to shape in liquid state. The so-called redevelopment process in silica gel production combines the advantages of physical extrusion and chemical manufacturing. Like chemical foaming masterbatch, raw silica gel is fed into extruder through granular hopper.

There is no need to modify the extruder itself. Another advantage is that as a physical foaming agent, dry ice does not leave any residue, such as reactive extrusion water. Therefore, it is also suitable for hydrolysis sensitive materials. The new metering technology can feed dry ice particles directly into the feed area of the extruder through metering screw and gravity mixer. In this way, IKv research team can avoid premature dry ice sublimation of plastic particles and cooling. By pressing the plastic and melting it quickly, the dry ice dissolves in the melt. IKv has extensively tested new metering technologies and developed relevant process windows.

With the new process technology, the silica gel density is 350-950 kg / M? (e.g. LDPE) can be achieved, which is comparable to chemical silica gel. By adjusting the process temperature, the method can also be applied to other plastics such as polypropylene. Despite the relatively high sublimation loss measured in the foaming agent, the process can compete with chemical foaming agent due to the lower cost of CO2. The process allows cheap entry into foam extrusion because any transformation is limited to metering technology. It can integrate a variety of technical advantages into the production process of silica gel.