Plastic Products vs Silicone: Which Material Fits Your Application?

Choosing between plastic products and silicone materials represents one of the most critical decisions in modern manufacturing. Both materials offer distinct advantages across electronics, automotive, and consumer goods industries. Plastic products excel in cost-effectiveness and versatility through injection molding processes, while silicone provides superior temperature resistance and flexibility. Understanding the specific properties, applications, and manufacturing requirements of each material ensures optimal product performance. This comprehensive comparison examines durability, cost considerations, processing methods, and environmental impact to guide procurement managers toward the most suitable material choice for their applications.

Understanding Material Properties: Plastic vs Silicone Fundamentals

Things are more than just their price when it comes to how well they work and how much they cost to make. There are a lot of different thermoplastic polymers, and each one works in a different way. A lot of the time, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) are used. When these materials are molded together, they are very simple to shape.

They are made in a way that makes them flexible. Silicones are in the polysiloxane family. Most plastics break when the temperature changes a lot, but silicone doesn't. Rubber is still 90% flexible at -65°C, but most plastics break down below -20°C.

There are three main places where some things stand out:

• As cold as -65°C and as hot as 250°C, silicone can still do its job. As low as -20°C and as high as 80°C, most plastics can still do their job.
• Damage from chemicals: Silicone doesn't react with acids and oils, but chemicals don't always get along with plastic resins.
• The process of working with thermoplastics requires more energy than curing silicone, which needs precise temperature control. This makes it harder to make things.

If you need to make a lot of things quickly and cheaply, plastic items that are at room temperature work better. Silicone is the best material for things that need to be able to handle chemicals and high temperatures.

Most of the time, ASTM says that the tensile strength of silicone is 4 to 10 MPa, while the tensile strength of plastic is 20 to 80 MPa. Silicone can stretch 400 to 800%, but vinyl can only stretch 2% to 50%.

A Look at How Long-Lasting and Useful They Are

How reliable a product is over time and how much it costs to keep up are directly related to how well it works. Precision injection-molded plastic items don't change size, and they don't break easily when they get hit. Plastics used in engineering, like polycarbonate, can take more than 850 J/m of force.

Different places for stress tests show big differences in how well things work. Researchers who study UV light have found that the properties of UV-stabilized plastic are still 95% the same after 2000 hours of faster weathering. In the same conditions, plastics that haven't been mixed with anything else lose 30 to 40 percent of their properties.

Silicone things last a very long time, even when they're used in rough places. After 10,000 hours at high temperatures, tests that speed up the aging process show that properties don't change much. Silicone doesn't change shape when it comes in contact with auto fluids, but some plastic containers can break when they are put under a lot of stress.

Good wear tests tell us important things, such as

• Every 1000 cycles, engineering plastics lose 15 to 25 mg of strength.
• When you press silicone, it changes shape 10–30% from how it was made, but when you bend plastic, it changes shape 40–60%.
• After 100,000 cycles at high temperatures, silicone can still seal.

Plastic works best for housing jobs that need to be exact in terms of size and won't break easily. Silicone is the best thing to use to seal things because it stays flexible over time.

Load tests show that plastic is better for building structures, and silicone is better for sealing and lowering vibrations.

Cost Analysis and Thoughts on Manufacturing

Manufacturing economics have a big impact on the choices of materials that are used. When making a lot of plastic items, injection molding is the most cost-effective way to do it. Depending on how complicated the mold is and how many cavities it has, the cost of making the mold's tools ranges from $5,000 to $50,000.

The production cycle times are very good for plastics. Injection molding cycles usually end in 15 to 60 seconds, which allows for large-scale production. Because silicone molds need to cure, each cycle takes 2 to 5 minutes, which directly affects production capacity.

The costs of raw materials make clear differences:

• Common plastics cost between $1.20 and $2.50 a kilogram.
• $3.00 to $8.00 a kilogram for engineering plastics
• $8.00 to $15.00 a kilogram for silicone compounds
• Specialty silicones cost between $20 and $40 per kilogram.

Total manufacturing costs are affected by things like secondary processing. Plastic products can be finished in a number of ways, such as by printing, painting, or putting them together. Silicone needs special surface treatments and bonding agents, which makes processing more difficult.

Plastic products are the best way to make consumer goods and save the most money at the same time. If you value performance over initial costs for specific uses, then silicone materials are worth the extra cost.

The amount of work needed for each process is very different. High levels of automation are reached in plastic molding operations, which lowers the cost of labor per part. Handling and inspecting silicone often have to be done by hand, which raises the cost of production.

Material Choice Based on Application

The best strategies for choosing materials are based on what the industry needs. In the manufacturing of electronics, plastic is often used for housing and structural parts. ABS and polycarbonate plastics protect consumer electronics from electromagnetic fields and drops.

Materials used in automotive applications must meet strict performance standards. For parts under the hood that need to be able to handle temperatures above 120°C, engineering plastics or silicone are the best choices. Interior parts put an emphasis on looks and cost-effectiveness, which supports the choice of plastic products.

Applications in consumer goods show how versatile materials are:

• Heat-resistant plastics are used for non-contact parts of kitchen appliances, and silicone is used for gaskets and seals.
• Personal care items: cosmetics come in plastic containers, and skin-contact materials are made of silicone.
• Metal-reinforced plastics are used for structural parts, and silicone is used for weather sealing.

Making medical devices has its own set of problems. Plastic resins that have been approved by the FDA make disposable items cheaper. Medical-grade silicone is biocompatible and can be used for long-term contact and implantable devices.

For electronic enclosures that need parts that are cheap and light, plastic products are the best choice. If you need biocompatible materials for medical uses, silicone materials will ensure you follow the rules.

Different industries have very different testing needs. Automotive suppliers have to put materials through a lot of thermal cycling and chemical exposure tests to make sure they are safe. Consumer goods companies focus on making sure their products are safe and look good for a long time.

What Sustainability Means for the Environment

When choosing materials, the environment is becoming more and more important. The circular economy makes it possible to use thermoplastics by having the right infrastructure for recycling plastic. PCR content, which is made from post-consumer recycled materials, is better for the environment while still performing the same.

Biodegradable plastics are better for the environment in some ways. Two kinds of packaging that can be broken down in nature are Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and Polylactic Acid (PLA). But these things can't handle high temperatures and need to be worked with in different ways.

The environment is affected in a lot of different ways by silicone materials. To make silicone, methods are needed that use a lot of energy, which raises the carbon footprint. But silicone is strong, so things that are made with it last longer, which might make up for the environmental costs at first.

In basic ways, different things have an effect on recycling:

• 70 to 90% of thermoplastics' original properties are still there when they are recycled mechanically.
• Plastics used in engineering: Chemical recycling brings back monomers so they can be used again.
• When you burn silicone materials or recycle them in a certain way, you can get energy back.
• Biodegradable plastics take 90 to 180 days to break down in industrial composting.

If you care about recycling and the circular economy, then regular plastic items can be recycled with the systems that are already in place. If you try to make things last as long as possible so they don't need to be replaced as often, durable silicone materials help cut down on long-term waste.

The effects on the environment are complicated when you look at the whole life cycle. Long-lasting materials are better for all uses, even if they can't be recycled. Biodegradable materials are better for products that won't last long.

Conclusion

Think about how well they work, how much they cost, and what the job needs before you pick one. These days, injection molding makes it easy and cheap to make many things out of plastic products. You can also get exact measurements and make the design your own. Rubber doesn't hold up as well against chemicals or high temperatures as silicone does. Also, silicone lasts longer when things get tough.

There are also rules set by the government and the way the material will be used that can change what kind of material is chosen. The best materials are those that work well and don't cost too much. This makes sure that the item does well in places where there is a lot of other stuff available.

The plastic products made by Yongsheng are a reliable partner in manufacturing.

Yongsheng is a great company that has been custom molding for over 30 years and makes plastic products. Our ISO9001:2015-certified factory is in Dongguan's famous "Town of Molds." It works with clients from all over the world in the electronics, consumer goods, and auto industries.

Some of the many manufacturing skills we have are:

• Injection molding machines today can work with parts that weigh anywhere from 0.1g to 2000g.
• As accurate as ±0.01mm, it is possible to make tools.
• processing of many different types of materials, including engineering plastics, common resins, and special compounds
• Full quality control with auto-inspection and statistical process control
• One place for OEM services, from the first design to the last shipping and packaging

Procurement managers always choose Yongsheng because it is dependable, creative, and low-cost. Our skilled workers know how to pick the best materials so that our clients get the best results at the lowest cost.

Are you ready to talk about what plastic items you need? Our technical team can help you choose the right materials and do a manufacturing feasibility analysis. We can help you make your ideas into products that are ready for the market. Email us at sales@alwinasia.com to find out how.

With decades of experience and a commitment to excellence, we will make sure that your project is a success from the first meeting to the last delivery.

References

1. Harper, Charles A., and Edward M. Petrie. Plastics Materials and Processes: A Concise Encyclopedia. John Wiley & Sons, 2003.

2. Rauwendaal, Chris. Polymer Extrusion. 5th edition, Hanser Publications, 2014.

3. Osswald, Tim A., et al. Materials Science of Polymers for Engineers. 3rd edition, Hanser Publications, 2012.

4. Rothon, Roger N. Particulate-Filled Polymer Composites. 2nd edition, Rapra Technology Limited, 2003.

5. Stevens, Malcolm P. Polymer Chemistry: An Introduction. 3rd edition, Oxford University Press, 1999.

6. Wright, David C. Environmental Stress Cracking of Plastics. Rapra Technology Limited, 1996.