Silicone issues

Zasshu

New Member
So, I am working with dragonskin 10 from smoothon, making a suit.

I seem to be having problems with adhesion between layers of silicone, as in it pretty much pulls appart under any stress. I tried cleaning with just naptha, and when that didn't work I tried naptha>denatured alcohol>acetone to clean it up, with only slightly more luck.

If I were using something else, I would try and rough up the surface, but silicone isn't easy to rough up.

I don't think its cure inhibition, as it hardens normally, it just doesn't adhere to the layer below very well. The only idea I have left is completely coating the piece in another full layer so the layers beneath are completely encapsulated.

Any help would be wonderful :cry
 
the layers of silicone should bond together. how long are you waiting between layers??

i use dragon skin and ecoflex. they bond to themselves and to each other fine.

are you slush casting with the silicone or brushing it on something??
 
I'm brushing it on, and only waiting about a day or so between layers.

I'm wondering if its because Im thickening it or tinting it, but that doesn't seem likely to me.


What I'm doing is fixing holes and tears in it, and the main piece was only casted about a week ago. I've been struggling to patch it since then and I'm out of ideas.
 
alittle thickner and tint should not stop it from bonding properly. dragon skin cures in about 2-4 hours , can you post a pic of what you are working on??


if the piece you repairing was painted. it might be the reason the dragon skin is not bonding. but i have never had that problem before.
 
Dragon Skin is a very picky material, I used it on a commercial years ago and we had problems with the material sticking to itself after we added Tint to the Silicone, we followed the instructions from the Company and even spoke to a Lab Tech and even though we followed everything to the letter...it would not stick!

Unfortunately I cannot recall our solution to the problem, because it was so many years ago but I think we may have simply done a mix where we added the Coloring, and then added extra Catalyst so it would set up fast, you may want to try that also.

Good luck!!
 
according to their website movies, you supposed to apply the next layer while its still tacky, maybe a day is too long
 
So, all I can think of is there is a surface contaminant of some sort, keeping the layers from bonding.

Anyone have good cleaning suggestions? Perhaps there is some sort of film or something left from a previous layer. I'm not sure.
 
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