I just wanted some ideas as to what are the features of dispersing fumed silica or dispersing nano silica particles that are not fumed .Which ones are suitable for Hydrophobicity and scratch resistance.
Hi Rohit,
I make polymer thick film printing inks and do not use extrusion or molding. But, hopefully I can help in some way. I buy silica from several sources. EVONIK Aerosil fumed silica (which can be hydrophobic or hydrophilic) and CABOT Cab-O-Sil treated silicas (for Hydrophobicity) for starters. They are both submicron, the purpose in my case is thixotropy and viscosity - mostly thixotropy. For scratch resistance I usually go towards a company called Micropowders which has a series of silicas and teflons to improve surface hardness and scratch resistance (Hydrophobic). When deciding if I am going to use fumed or coated silica (we are not allowed to use nano because we cannot contain a spill if it happens) I decide by material viscosity. If the final material viscosity is too low I will used fumed silica. A little bit can go a long way - 0.1% to 1.0%). If my viscosity is OK I use coated silica (siloxane family) from 2.0% to >5.0%. Let me know if this helps in any way. Let me know what in particular helps and I can be more precise.
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