Here at Flex Technologies, we have a lot of years of experience in the silicone industry. Nowadays, this versatile material is used in everything from computer applications, to auto solutions, to cookware, and much more! But did you know that it has only been around since 1927? If you're interested in the history of this useful material, we have presented a brief overview here.

Where It Started

The discovery of the method for synthesizing silicone polymers belongs to an English chemist named Frederick Kipping. This research was done in 1927. Kipping is also the one to dub the silicon based material "silicone". In the 1930s, Jame Franklin Hyde, a chemist at Corning Glass, built upon Kipping's research to improve the synthesizing process so that the material could be used in the high temperatures found in motors and generators.

The popularity of silicone's ability to withstand high temperatures spread, and Hyde began to successfully produce silicone commercially. By 1942, companies like Dow Chemical and Corning Glass had begun the development of a manufacturing program for silicone materials.

It wasn't long until other major corporations across the world began producing silicone materials en masse, including Wacker Chemie from Germany and Shin-Etsu from Japan. 

About Silicone

Silicone is actually a bit of a misnomer. The suffix "-one" in chemistry refers to a substance with a double bonded O atom. This is not the case for silicone, although historically it was erroneously believed to be. The proper scientific nomenclature for silicone, which is an inorganic polymer (not having a double bonded oxygen atom), would actually be polysiloxanes, or polydimethylsiloxanes.

Properties

As we've mentioned previously, silicone materials are highly resistant to extreme temperatures, which allows them to maintain their function in all kinds of conditions. Generally, they can withstand anything from -100 to 300 degrees Celsius (-148 to 572 degrees Fahrenheit). 

Not only is silicone highly resistant to extreme temperatures, but it stands up to UV radiation, ozone, and other degrading factors. On top of all this, silicone is a non toxic substance that does not react to most other chemicals. This makes it a great choice in regards to safety for many applications.