Silicone oil: a comprehensive analysis from basic chemistry to industrial applications
Silicone oil, a linear organic polysiloxane with silicon oxygen silicon as the main chain, plays an indispensable role in the industrial field due to its unique chemical structure and excellent physical properties. This article will comprehensively analyze the basic chemistry, preparation process, performance characteristics, and wide industrial applications of silicone oil.


1、 Basic Chemistry of Silicone Oil
The basic chemical structure of silicone oil can be expressed as (- Si-O -) ₙ, where "Si" represents silicon atoms, "O" represents oxygen atoms, and "n" represents polymerization degree. The most commonly used silicone oil - methyl silicone oil, whose organic groups are all methyl, has a chemical formula of (CH ∝ SiO ∝/₂) ₙ. This structure endows silicone oil with low surface tension, low viscosity, and excellent lubrication performance. In addition, by changing the molecular structure of silicone oil or adding functional groups, modified silicone oil with specific properties and application characteristics can be prepared, such as amino silicone oil, phenyl silicone oil, etc.


2、 Preparation process of silicone oil
The preparation process of silicone oil mainly includes steps such as hydrolysis, condensation, cracking, distillation, and polymerization adjustment. Taking methyl silicone oil as an example, the initial condensed ring is first prepared by hydrolyzing dimethyl dichlorosilane with water. The ring is then cracked and distilled to obtain a low ring. The ring, capping agent, and catalyst are then mixed together to obtain various mixtures with different degrees of polymerization. Finally, the low boiling point is removed by vacuum distillation to obtain silicone oil. The preparation of modified silicone oil requires the introduction of specific functional groups on the basis of the base silicone oil, and the optimization of performance is achieved through chemical reactions.


3、 Performance characteristics of silicone oil
Silicone oil has many unique performance characteristics, including excellent chemical stability, high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, low toxicity, low surface tension, high flash point, low solidification point, etc. These properties enable silicone oil to maintain good working conditions in extreme environments and are widely used in various industrial fields. For example, the high temperature resistance of silicone oil makes it an ideal electrical insulation material for the electronics and electrical industry; Its low surface tension endows silicone oil with excellent lubricity and anti adhesion properties.


4、 The wide application of silicone oil in industry
Electrical insulation: Silicone oil is widely used in fields such as motors, electrical appliances, and electronic instruments due to its excellent electrical insulation properties. It serves as an insulation medium that is resistant to temperature, arc, corona, moisture, and dust.
Release agent: Silicone oil has good lubricity and anti adhesion properties, and is widely used in plastic molding, rubber processing, metal casting and other fields. It is used as a release agent to improve the surface accuracy and production efficiency of products.
Defoamer: Silicone oil, as a defoamer, has the advantages of strong defoaming force, high temperature resistance, non-volatile, and high chemical stability. It is widely used in fields such as petroleum, chemical, printing and dyeing, coatings, pharmaceuticals, etc.
Damping and shock absorption: Silicone oil is widely used in fields such as instruments, buffer dampers, impact buffers, etc. due to its high compressibility and excellent viscosity and temperature properties, and is used as an oil for shock absorption and damping.
Surface treatment: Silicone oil can be used for surface treatment of materials such as glass, ceramics, and metals, forming a semi permanent waterproof, anti mold, and insulating film to improve material performance and service life.