May 24 2006
Dow Corning Corporation has launched an expanded family of silicone materials for the fast-growing light emitting diode (LED) market. The product line introduction comes at a time when manufacturers are looking to silicones to provide brighter, longer-lasting LEDs in diverse applications, such as backlighting for mobile appliances and displays, cell phone camera flash, automotive interior and exterior lighting, and general illumination.
Building on the company’s existing product line of gels, elastomers and resins, Dow Corning’s newest products include three new LED-protecting encapsulants – DOW CORNING® EG-6301, DOW CORNING® OE-6336, and DOW CORNING® JCR 6175 – and a breakthrough new resin: DOW CORNING® SR-7010, a moldable material that combines the durability and transparency of a silicone to make hard discrete lenses and other components for LED applications. Each of these silicone-based materials enables surface mount assembly of LED devices using lead-free solder, a key environmental benefit. The products are the first to emerge from Dow Corning’s new Light Management group, which the company launched to support emerging needs in the global photonics market.
“As new designs call for brighter, hotter and longer-lasting LEDs, and manufacturers adopt high-temperature lead-free assembly processes, we’re seeing more and more companies turn to the power of silicone in applications where epoxies or COCs (cyclo olefin copolymers) were once the materials of choice,” said Tom Cook, global industry executive director, Dow Corning. “Silicones are ideally matched to the demands of LED manufacturing – they offer exceptional reliability due to their initial high light transmittance and optical clarity is retained because the materials resist the effects of high temperatures and short-wavelength exposures. In addition, the silicones can be formulated to adhere to a multitude of substrates, giving users wide latitude when it comes to creating new device designs.
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