Improve the production process with silicone

Did you know that choosing the right material is one of the best ways to optimise your production process? When selecting technical components for your process plant, there is more to consider than just material properties. It is about ensuring high operational efficiency, reliable production and long service life. Silicone is often the preferred choice because the material resists many different types of media. This opens up new application possibilities in your production, whether you work with food or medicine. 

This time, we focus on silicone, its advantageous properties, and some of our most popular products that contain it. 

Read on to learn more! 

Silicone is a versatile, heat-resistant and flexible material made from silicon, oxygen, carbon and hydrogen. The combination of these elements results in a material with superior durability, heat resistance and flexibility. This combination makes the material a popular choice for various applications across the process industry – especially in food and medicine production. 

In food and medicine production in particular, the material solves a number of critical challenges: 

• Handling temperature fluctuations: Silicone withstands rapid changes between heating and cooling without losing its sealing ability. This ensures stability in, for example, pasteurisation processes at dairies and breweries. 
• Effective cleaning and hygiene: The smooth surface of the material minimises the risk of residual products sticking. This allows you to streamline cleaning routines and maintain uncompromising hygiene in your facility.
• Continuous visual inspection: As silicone is often transparent, your operators can continuously inspect the fluid flow. By combining transparent silicone hoses with sight glasses in the process line, staff can quickly check even small changes in flow. This visual inspection serves as an important safety measure to avoid costly errors.  

Silicone has some very advantageous properties that are rarely found in other types of materials. Silicone is primarily distinguished by its exceptional flexibility and malleability compared to, for example, popular type of materials such as PTFE and FEP, which are more rigid in their shape. 

For a maintenance manager, the technical advantages mean fewer worries in everyday life. When the material does not react with the medium, unexpected breakdowns of hoses and gaskets are avoided. This extends service intervals and provides more predictable maintenance costs. 

Our wide product range includes a selection of products made from silicone. 

Our food-grade silicone hoses are a core component in many production processes, as they are non-toxic, tasteless and extremely resistant to temperature fluctuations. Our Clearway series is particularly popular, as it is FDA-approved and suitable for the production of beverages with a high alcohol content. The hoses are also manufactured in an ISO 14644-1 clean room. For you, this means that you get an extremely clean hose that has been pre-cleaned of dust and particles. 

For environments with extra high requirements for mechanical protection, we recommend PharmaForce C. This is an advanced teflon hose with stainless steel braid, equipped with a protective silicone cover. The cover not only ensures increased resistance to external damage, but also maintains the hose's flexibility. One of the biggest hygienic advantages is that dirt cannot get stuck in the braid under the silicone surface, making the hose easy to clean.  

As an important supplement, we offer union gaskets in silicone, which ensure tight and controlled processes throughout the plant. Gaskets are used for static joints – for example, between pipes and fittings – where they prevent the leakage of liquids and gases. They are process-critical components that you should always have in stock, as a leaking gasket can halt entire production. 

Our silicone gaskets are designed to deliver superior performance in various industrial applications, such as clamps for dairy pipe unions and butterfly valves. They offer high thermal stability, high flexibility and excellent chemical resistance. Whether you work in high-pressure environments or deal with aggressive chemicals, these gaskets are incredibly reliable. 

In a production environment with strict safety requirements, it is not enough for the material to work in practice. It must be documented. When we supply silicone solutions for your plant, the necessary documentation is always included, which complies with current legislation for food contact and pharmaceutical use. 

By using us as your knowledgeable partner, you gain access to technical advice that goes beyond the product itself. This helps you make informed choices that create long-term results and predictability in your operations. 

Take the first step towards improving your production process with our silicone products. Contact our sales team now on +45 7020 0422 or email inquiry@alfotech.eu. We would be happy to arrange an informal meeting with you so that we can discuss your needs.