Oct 17 2008
The industry’s demand for the popular GE RapidStrength window bedding silicone sealant continues to grow at a rapid pace, as evidenced by an enormous increase in sales of close for Momentive Performance Materials. A cold-applied, 100 percent silicone, RapidStrength sealant can provide many advantages over other glazing technologies, helping to reduce production times and increase productivity at manufacturing facilities.
RapidStrength sealant’s fast green strength helps enable manufacturing facilities to reduce costs through increased throughput with less inventory handling, work in process, breakage and field service. While many products currently available in the market can take from six hours to 21 days to gain strength, RapidStrength sealant typically develops sufficient elastomeric and adhesive strength—within 8-15 minutes of mixing and applying— to permit movement and handling of sash subassemblies without glass slippage. RapidStrength sealant normally builds to near maximum strength in 60-90 minutes, resulting in increased productivity and decreased production costs. In addition, the improved quality of the windows or window wall applications results in higher customer satisfaction.
“RapidStrength sealant’s cold-application process meets the industry’s need for increased productivity and quality, and typically exceeds customers’ expectations about performance benefits and savings,” said Larry Burkett, Momentive Performance Materials’ North American Construction Sales Manager. “In fact, most customers who introduced RapidStrength sealant into their production have expanded their equipment—after the initial roll out—to run more product lines with RapidStrength.”
RapidStrength sealant helps mitigate the inherent disadvantages of other glazing technologies such as hot-melt and tape glazing applications. When working with hot-melt applications, there are several reported disadvantages including sealant “creep,” higher utility costs, deglazing difficulties and stress cracking of window units.
Sealant “creep,” which results in glass slippage in field-installed windows over time, impacts quality and appearance. RapidStrength cures to a flexible silicone rubber and does not “creep” when properly applied. Cold-applied silicone sealants can also be easily deglazed. When cut with a sharp knife, they will not re-heal, while hot melts tend to be sticky and re-heal after cutting, making it difficult to do field repairs.
Similar to hot-melt applications, tape glazing can also negatively impact quality and productivity. Tape glazing may result in slow production rates, high labor costs, flat spots, tears or holes in the tape and gaps in the joints. Conversely, RapidStrength sealant’s wet glazing technology can be applied through automatic equipment helping increase plant throughput and supply consistent quality, resulting in improved economics for the plant.
Hurricane Code Tested
Meeting American Society for Testing and Materials’ C1184 specification for structural sealants, RapidStrength sealant can offer increased safety factors in structural sealant glazing designs. Our two-part silicones have been successfully used in commercial applications for over two decades and RapidStrength sealant has proven performance in hurricane code window designs.
Used in the construction of residential and commercial doors or windows, in window wall applications and for the fabrication and shop glazing of curtainwall modules, RapidStrength sealant is durable and provides resistance to weathering, UV exposure and extreme temperatures. Its primerless adhesion capabilities allow it to bond to most conventional substrates and finishes, including vinyl, wood, anodized aluminum and fluoropolymer and polyester paints. RapidStrength sealant is available in translucent, white, black, gray and beige colors and can be easily dispensed in manual, hand-assist or automatic X-Y table.