What are the application areas of silicone heaters in the automotive industry?

For more than ten years, automobiles have been developing in the direction of reducing weight, increasing speed, saving fuel, limiting emissions and improving reliability, with the core being to reduce the size of the engine. Silicone rubber heaters are mainly composed of nickel-chromium alloy heating wires and silicone rubber high-temperature insulation layers. The silicone rubber high-temperature insulation layer is a thin sheet (standard thickness is 1.5mm) made of silicone rubber and glass fiber cloth. The silicone rubber heater has good softness. Silicone rubber heating belt is a particularly soft heating belt composed of nickel-chromium alloy wire and insulating material. It has high design power density, fast heating, high thermal efficiency and long service life. In addition to being used for heating and heat preservation of general constant power belts, it can also be used in places that need heating in some cases. 3D printer heating sheets use layer-by-layer stacking to produce three-dimensional models. Its operation process is similar to that of traditional printers, except that traditional printers print ink on paper to form two-dimensional flat drawings, while three-dimensional printers stack liquid photosensitive resin materials, molten plastic wires, gypsum powder and other materials by spraying binders or extrusion to form three-dimensional entities. After the application of turbochargers, the operating temperature under the hood has become higher and higher, from 100 ° C in the 1970s to 150 ° C in the 1980s, and then to more than 200 ° C in the 1990s. Therefore, the use of silicone rubber in key parts is increasing.

At present, silicone rubber seals and gaskets have been widely used in drive shafts, embedded covers, oil pans, cooler water covers, headlights, sliding sunroofs, open roofs, muffler joint seals, high and low temperature resistant, weather-resistant connectors and ventilators, etc. Silicone rubber protective sleeves are mainly used for spark plugs, distributors, ignition coils, plugs, headlights, etc. Silicone rubber hoses are mainly used for heating systems, turbochargers, etc. In addition, fabric-reinforced silicone rubber airbags have been used in automobiles as anti-collision safety measures for drivers and passengers.

In the past, oil seals on automobiles were mostly made of nitrile rubber, but as the economic speed can be increased and the temperature rise increases, the nitrile rubber lip is prone to cracking. After switching to high-tear silicone rubber, the problem was satisfactorily solved. Silicone rubber ignition control cable enterprises have the advantages of corona resistance, ozone resistance, fuel saving and no pollution to the ecological environment. They have long service life and are safe and reliable. Silicone rubber hoses are used as the main functional components of radiators and heaters. They have a long service life (5 years) and can travel at least 800,000 km. Due to the excellent heat resistance of silicone rubber hoses, they can also be directly used as flexible connecting joints for the air pressure pipes and return oil pipes inside the turbocharger. The temperature here has reached 205°C, which general technical synthetic rubber companies cannot bear. Silicone rubber products have achieved great success in keyless door locks, electrical information system protection covers, headlight halogen lamp covers, awnings, etc., and there will be more and more applications.