When most people think about the silicone items in their home, kitchen utensils such as cake form, scrubbers, gloves, spatulas and non-stick products usually come to mind. However, there are a range of unusual and unexpected items in your house that are enhanced by including silicone, constantly improving our way of life. Here are a couple of ways silicone makes its way into your household:

It’s literally surrounding you

Silicone is used in building and construction, able to bond materials such as concrete, glass, granite, steel and plastics, enabling them to work better and last longer. These silicone sealants can absorb pressure and movement within engineering, allowing for more innovative architectural designs. It also helps protect materials and joints from moisture, heat, corrosion, sunlight, ultraviolet radiation, pollution and other chemicals.

You’re looking at or holding silicone right now

Silicone is a semi-conductor, meaning that it can conduct electricity only in certain conditions and acts as an insulator under others. These characteristics make it an ideal material for making transistors that amplify electrical signals. Coatings for electrical products, such as keypads, keyboards and copier rollers, as well as the hard coatings for computers, facsimile machines, telephones and home entertainment equipment are all made from silicone. 

It’s not just silicone spatulas in your kitchen

Silicone is great for cooking utensils, as it has no odor and can go from the freezer to the oven, microwave or dishwasher without affecting the quality of the product or the food, however it is used in other aspects of your kitchen too. Household cleaners and polishers often include silicon to enhance shine and spread easily.

Use a car to get to work every day?

Silicone adhesives and coatings ensure that vehicle exteriors are more resistant to rain, wind, salt, abrasion, ultraviolet radiation and chemicals. Joints last longer and overall maintenance and repair is less costly. Silicone is used in a huge range of car parts, such as airbags, hydraulic bearings, ignition cables, shock absorbers and headlamps.

Do you use a spacecraft, airplane, high-performance automobile, submarine, or boat? Perhaps you don’t regularly, but we’d be surprised if you’ve never used one of the aforementioned vehicles at least once in your life. If you have, you should know that silicones offer durability, adhesion, and general strength required for these vehicles to function. In terms of silicone adhesives, vehicle exteriors which utilize silicone will be more resistant to environmental factors like salt, radiation, common chemicals, rain, wind, and general abrasion. This has the net effect of fewer repairs and therefore lower costs in terms of upkeep.

Beyond that, silicones are used in a wide range of vehicular parts, including silicone hoses, engine gaskets, shock absorbers, cushioning, airbags, ventilation flaps, and hydraulic bearings.

You might be wearing it

Silicone is used in a variety of make-ups, cleansers, shampoos and other personal care products to improve shine and texture.

 

 

 Silicones are commonly used in the world of personal care products and cosmetics. Because silicone is non-toxic and so versatile in function, it can be used to make a great number of cosmetic products more attractive and useful. To the former point, silicone is used to improve the smooth texture, luster, and shine of personal care products. In deodorant, they help reduce the appearance of white residue while making a variety of other shaving creams, shampoos, and lotions more long-lasting and effective.

Restoration Projects

Silicone is truly an amazing material, in case you haven’t figured that out yet. It’s being used in premium paints to help prolong the lifespan of the exterior coatings on houses, commercial structures, and even vehicles. But beyond that, silicones are also used to restore landmarks and other historical buildings without harming the original material’s integrity. The silicone adhesives are used to increase the strength and durability of specific structural joints while also improving the water-repellant functionality of materials like limestone or sandstone — both of which are quite porous without treatment.

Interesting Facts about Silicone

 

 

We will now provide you with an assortment of interesting, fun, and practical (if not arbitrary) facts about silicone. Some of these you might find superfluous and common, but others might literally change your life forever. How could something like that be so? Well, you’ve got to keep reading to find out.