Silicone Engineering has installed a new talc coating machine designed to reduce waste and improve the quality of silicone sheeting products.
The company’s new bespoke talc coating machine will greatly reduce the amount of talcum powder used in the production of kSil solid silicone sheeting. Talcum powder is necessary because it provides a non-stick surface to the finished silicone.
Before installing the machine, talc was applied manually by hand to provide a non-stick surface to the finished silicone. This technique however, resulted in a significant amount of waste being produced and despite great efforts by workers, an even spread of talc was not always achieved.
Steve Hadlington, Technical Director at Silicone Engineering, said; “The new machine allows us to spread an extremely light coating of talc over the finished silicone sheeting, reducing waste and improving the appearance and performance of the material. When sold on to converters and gasket cutters, less talc on the silicone means less talc getting into machinery and around the facilities.
“In-house, we have seen the air quality improve significantly and we can confirm that this is because due to less dust in the air, which is making the factory much cleaner.”
The new machine will allow Silicone Engineering to produce a better quality and a cleaner finish to their solid silicone sheeting materials. This will also enable Silicone Engineering to give a uniformed finish to their sheeting across a 1.8m wide surface.
