Dow Corning, a major producer of silicone for the chemical industry and personal care industry, recommends the Sonolator homogenizer for creating silicone emulsions.
Below is an example of one of Dow’s “Beauty & Personal Care Solutions” brochure. The Sonolator is called out (see yellow highlight) by name in this brochure discussing formulation tips for Dow Corning 9040 Silicone Elastomer Blend.
Sonic Mixing: A History of Homogenizer Manufacturing
Sonic has been custom designing industrial mixing equipment for silicone emulsion products for over 50 years. It should not be a surprise that the leading manufacturers of silicone recommend the Sonolator. However, it is still cool to see the Sonic’s system mentioned by name in Dow Corning’s literature. We are very proud to have our equipment endorsed by Dow Corning and other great manufacturers.
Below is another piece of Dow Corning’s literature outlining specific instructions “Making Oil-In-Water Emulsions of Dow Corning Polysiloxanes.” Again, I have highlighted the pertinent areas of the literature. Note that not only does Dow recommend the Sonolator, but they also give specifics on operating pressure (80-100 bar) and resulting particle size of less than 1 micron.
Additionally, you will notice in the next section using a generic homogenizer the recommended operating pressure is “…maximum pressure (800 bar).” This is a great example of what Sonic always advises: the efficiency of the Sonolator as compared to standard equipment is much greater. In this case, it is very clear that significantly lower operating pressures require less horsepower and therefore less electricity used over the life of the system in operation.
The Sonolator vs. Standard Homogenizers
Another major difference between the Sonolator and a standard homogenizer is Sonic’s commitment to custom designed mixing solutions. Sonic does not ask its customers to live with or fit their application into an off-the-shelf design. The Sonolator system is custom designed to meet not only the application needs, but also the needs of the engineers and plant manager. For example: if the plant is standardized on Allen Bradley control components or E&H or Micromotion flow meters, Sonic will custom build a system to meet all of the necessary requirements.
Custom Solutions for Mixing Applications
Below is an example of a custom designed Lexan box covering the high pressure portion of a Sonolator system, designed to protect operators from a hazardous process chemical. In case of an O-ring burst on one of the high pressure fittings, this box will contain the hazardous chemical while the operators shut down the system, clean up the material, repair the O-ring and restart the process.
The Lexan box allows for easy access to the unit via thumb screws. The customer is very happy with this custom design. While this treatment is not be necessary for silicone emulsions, it provides a good example of Sonic’s ability to provide custom solutions to any mixing application.
In closing, it is always great to see that Sonic’s experience and designs recognized by other leading manufacturers. Sonic is happy to support Dow Corning’s customers and their operations in creating silicone emulsions. If you would like more information on the documents referenced above please visit Dow Corning’s website technical library at Dow Corning – Technical Library.
