How to Identify Oil-filled Sealant

Oil filling is a persistent problem in the sealant industry. Magnificent like high-rise buildings, subtle like doors and windows sealed, there are traces of sealant everywhere, at the same time, they are also threatened by oil-filled sealant everywhere. So, how to distinguish the inferior oil-filled sealant.

How to check if the sealant is filled with oil? We can get the answer from the thin film test method-

First, let's briefly understand the thin film test method.

The film test method is to apply sealant on a plastic film and qualitatively check whether the sealant is filled with mineral oil. The principle is that the mineral oil added to the oil-filled sealant has poor compatibility with the silicone sealant system, and is easy to migrate and penetrate out of the colloid. When mineral oil penetrates into the plastic film, the film becomes uneven.

Before the experiment, we need to prepare PE plastic film (polyethylene material, thickness 10 ~ 12 wire, available on Taobao), silicone sealant, glue gun, glue tip, utility knife, scraper.

Method one
On a flat plastic film, mark the sealant with a “mouth” shape and scrape it as evenly as possible to a thickness of about 1 to 6 mm. Observe the flatness of the film after 24 hours.

Method Two
In the case of no scraper, we can apply a small amount of sealant on the flat plastic film, press another piece of plastic film, the thickness is about 1 ~ 6mm, and observe the flatness of the film surface after 24 hours.

After finishing the operation, we can focus on the edge where the film is sealed and observe the test results: one of the films contacted by the rubber sample shrinks, and we judge it as an oil-filled silicone sealant; the other film of the rubber sample contacts is flat, we judge Non-oil-filled silicone sealant.

There is nothing trivial in building safety. Don't be tempted to the cheap one for a while, reject low-quality oil-filled sealant, make doors and windows curtain walls safer, and make people's lives better!