AS40 Addition Cure Silicone Rubber


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StickStuff
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I've recently purchased this silicone and a pump. I've watched your videos and admit that I'm new to all this.
But does this stuff go off? It seems VERY thick.
I mixed to 10% by weight, stirred slowly to avoid bubbles and trickled from the mixing cup to a wide-bottomed container within my vacuum chamber. This seemed to create more bubbles that I already had.
I turned on the pump and sure enough everything expanded very quickly... but it NEVER collapsed. Several minutes went by and I gave up.
I trickled over the pattern and could see loads of bubbles. It took over 5 minutes to trickle less than 100g of silicone. Is it always this slow and resistant to movement?
I placed the pattern in the vacuum chamber.
Quick expansion of bubble... never collapsed.
Does this stuff go off? Am I missing a step? I have far too many bubbles setting within the silicone.
Here's a video of the whole affair if it helps : https://youtu.be/JcAs4bQkRGc
I sped the whole thing up by 20x as it's so slow.
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Hanaldo
Hanaldo
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My first suspicion is that your vac chamber doesn't actually get to full vacuum. I know you say it's air tight, but how do you know? Does it have a vacuum gauge? Can you pull a vacuum, switch the pump off, and come back a few hours later to find it hasn't leaked at all? 

To me, it looks like the silicone want to collapse but it's only at about 90% vacuum. Everything happens in that last 10%, so if it isn't actually getting there then it won't collapse.

Otherwise, what temperature is it where you are at the moment? If it is cold, the material will be significantly thicker. I can't really see a whole lot wrong with your silicone, although I dont know EC's silicone at all. If it cures though, it isn't expired. Viscosity really shouldn't prevent a material from degassing, it may just take longer.
StickStuff
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Hanaldo - 6/21/2018 1:53:16 AM
My first suspicion is that your vac chamber doesn't actually get to full vacuum. I know you say it's air tight, but how do you know? Does it have a vacuum gauge? Can you pull a vacuum, switch the pump off, and come back a few hours later to find it hasn't leaked at all? 

To me, it looks like the silicone want to collapse but it's only at about 90% vacuum. Everything happens in that last 10%, so if it isn't actually getting there then it won't collapse.

Otherwise, what temperature is it where you are at the moment? If it is cold, the material will be significantly thicker. I can't really see a whole lot wrong with your silicone, although I dont know EC's silicone at all. If it cures though, it isn't expired. Viscosity really shouldn't prevent a material from degassing, it may just take longer.

My chamber IS airtight. How do I know? I shut off the valves and watch the gauge... it doesn't move. If the needle dropped there would be air leakage but as that doesn't happen, I'm confident it's doing its job.
As for the temperature, I'm in the UK. What was it yesterday... 20 to 22C Maybe.
As for it looking as though it wants to collapse, I agree completely. It reaches that stage quickly, but just stays there.
I watched the tutorial video through again last night and thought, "My stuff doesn't mix that easily... my stuff doesn't pour and flow that easily."
It does cure though : )

GO

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