Author: Joe

Silicone Rubber, regardless of colour, hardness or type can be cured in one of two ways. Platinum (addition) Cure system or the more traditional Peroxide Cure system, both have pros and cons and both suit certain applications.

Both our Peroxide and Platinum cured silicone compounds meet food, drink, medical and flammability standards.

The curing process is basically the cross linking of the molecular “mesh” structure of the Silicone as heat activates the catalyst and the gum turns into rubber as we know it. The better and tighter the cross linking of the “mesh” the better the technical performance of the Silicone.

Peroxide catalysts are the mainstream in our industry, they offer the overall best value and good performance, but residue from the cross linking can remain in the Silicone and relies on a good post cure process to drive this off. Translucent rubber will not be quite as clear and can yellow over time.

Platinum Curing systems tend to be more expensive, and the processing more involved. But it is effectively a cleaner cure system leaving little or no residue. This means that you have far less risk of any trace residue getting into product coming into contact with the rubber, and the clarity/surface finish will also be better.

Platinum Cured Silicones are more suited to critical food/drink and medical applications, or where the highest cosmetic appearance is required. Peroxide Cured Silicones are absolutely fine for the majority of applications.

We are very happy to discuss your individual needs, advise on what we think is the most suitable material and extrusion and send samples if required. Always happy to help, please just get in touch

With more companies suspending operations due to the ongoing Covid 19 situation we just wanted to reassure our customers that Adpol remains open for business and here to assist.

Extrusion, moulding and gasket fabrication continues, at a slightly reduced capacity rate which means that we are closing at 4pm Monday – Thursday and 1pm Friday, but please email if you need to contact us outside these hours.

Adpol manufactures for many sectors, including medical, pharma research, food, drink and dairy with compounds fully certified in medical, food and drink sectors. This means we are required to remain open by many key UK manufacturers in these sectors. We are already involved in a number of new medical projects directly linked to the Covid 19 situation, and are still able to prioritise these into days lead time (product allowing) where needed.

So if you are asked to get involved in a medical project we are able and have the materials and expertise to help you, please give us a call or send us details and we will get back to you ASAP.

It is great to hear so many positive stories around UK manufacturers working together to combat this virus, and all of us at Adpol are keen to play our part and help you do likewise in any way we can.

Brexit Preparations… How we can help you prepare

You are probably getting regular questionnaires from your customers

about your preparations and risk analysis for Brexit. An area to consider

and reduce risk for those based in the UK is sourcing within the UK to

avoid any border issues. We can reverse engineer most silicone rubber

extrusions within 3 weeks and remove the risk, or at least give you a back

up option for your plan. So if you have any overseas suppliers for sponge

or rubber parts it might be worth talking to us, sooner rather than later.

Important Update on lead times

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Thank you for your support in 2018, and patience with the price rises that

you have seen. Regrettably the large price rises on raw material trends are

continuing into 2019 as the chemical shortages and growing global

demand for Silicone continue.

This is affecting all Silicone compounders, and manufacturers like us, we

are all faced with price rises on raw material of up to 40% in 2019 so far. We

use the best value quality European compounded Silicone available which

is purchased in high volumes for the best rates. Like for like comparisons

are more expensive.

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As an AS9100 approved manufacturer of Aerospace parts Adpol has to comply with stringent quality standards affecting all aspects of the products and services that we supply to our customers. One of these are the flow down requirements to our approved suppliers, typically of raw materials, products and services. If you are an Adpol approved supplier please take note of our updated Conditions of Purchase, which is referred to in our purchase orders, which you will need to comply with.

Please contact us if you require any further assistance

Adpol proudly launches its first Video of what we manufacture and how we do it from the mixing of the compound to the final shipping of the end product to the customer…………… and all the many varied processes that might take place on the journey.

Steam degrades rubber seals, want to find out how we can help you in this area……………..  visit our Steam Resistant Silicone Rubber Page

Enclosure Seals are also tricky to get right, but we have years of experience helping people get these right……………….. visit our enclosure seals page

Adpol extends a warm welcome to Richard Rush, who joins Adpol in a technical sales role. Richard has expertise in Aerospace flight simulators and electronic assembly businesses.

Also Nicola Brall, who joins Adpol in a office Admin/Sales role working closely with Yvonne to ensure your orders track smoothly through Adpol and we keep up the high level of communication with our customers that we want.

Bethan Jenkins joins the trimming and fabrication team and Ariel Mielweska joins the extrusion team.

As we grow, we ensure that we have the resouce in terms of staff and machinery that we we need to maintain the service levels our customers deserve.