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WACKER Offers Completely Boric-acid-free Range of Silicone Pastes

Munich -- The Munich-based chemical company WACKER presents three novel silicone lubricant pastes for the fitting of cable accessories for the transmission and distribution (T&D) industry: WACKER® SILICONE PASTE P 250 and P 300 as well as the newly formulated lubricant POWERSIL® PASTE AP. The pastes are free of boron-containing additives and therefore particularly environmentally and user friendly. Silicone pastes are very versatile. They are used, for example, as antifriction and release agents, lubricants and sealants, as heat-sink media and for damping and insulating electrical components.

In the past, small amounts of trimethyl borate were added in the production of silicone pastes. This improved the stability and shelf life of the products. However, the additive can release boric acid, which has been listed as a hazardous substance by the EU since 2009 and classified as a substance of very high concern by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) since 2010.

For the sake of the environment and to ensure maximum safety for users, WACKER no longer employs this additive when producing silicone pastes. The required product stability is now ensured by pyrogenic silicas and other additives that are not subject to mandatory labeling. By modifying the formulation in this way,

WACKER is now the first company to offer a completely boric-acid-free range of silicone pastes. The new colorless silicone pastes are used particularly for fitting cable accessories in the T&D industry. They have a medium-to-soft consistency and a certain degree of thixotropic properties. The term "thixotropic" means that the pastes have a somewhat lower viscosity while under mechanical shearing, and are therefore more fluid than in a stationary state, which has advantages for their storage. All grades bond to metal and ceramics. They are good insulators, water-repel-lent and can be readily used at temperatures between -40 and +200 °C (or +150 °C in the case of PASTE P 300).

WACKER silicone pastes are also excellent antifriction agents and lubricants for routine industrial applications, even under extreme conditions. They are preferred for plastic/plastic and plastic/metal pairings and as antifriction and release agents for organic elastomers.

About WACKER

WACKER is a globally active company with some 17,200 employees and annual sales of around €4.91 billion (2011). WACKER has a global network of 24 production sites, 19 technical competence centers and 53 sales offices.

Source: Wacker

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