Runhe has developed a resin modified silicone oil

At the beginning of the year, Ningbo Runhe High-tech Materials Co., Ltd. recently developed a resin-modified silicone oil, which can make the fabric soft and firm, with better washing durability and elasticity, and has been favored by the market. Up to now, the newly developed resin-modified silicone oil has achieved sales of 18 million yuan.

In fabrics, softness and stiffness are a pair of contradictions. The same is true in the microscopic molecular world. We will find that the molecules of soft substances are difficult to chemically merge with the molecules of hard substances. The new resin-modified silicone oil, as a textile softener, innovatively combines resin materials and silicone, which can make the fabric soft and handy, and it is also stylish. In just two months of product launch, sales reached 100 tons, accounting for 10% of the company's total sales.

It is reported that, in order to overcome this problem, "Runhe Materials" took three or four years and tested countless times. "Silicone is a liquid oil at room temperature and is inherently soft, but it is not elastic enough, so we tried to implant a molecular chain of hard materials in the silicone oil through a chemical reaction." General Manager of "Runhe Materials" Textile Division Zhu Jianhua explained their R&D logic. They targeted "hard" materials to polyurethane, which is what we often call resins. "Because it has a large number of highly active urea groups and carbamates, it can be cross-linked on the fiber surface to form a film and has high elasticity characteristics.

After countless tests, in the end, under the condition of 100 degrees Celsius, a chemical catalyst was used to "install" hydrophilic soft chain ends on the silicone-oxygen molecular chain. This new substance is also different from the silicone that generally appears as a liquid oil, but becomes a solid state, it is easier to form an adsorption film on the surface of the fiber, so that the fiber is soft and rigid, which solves the common pilling in clothing problem.

The newly developed resin-modified silicone oil has a broad market prospect. It is different from the original direct modification of fibers and can be used for the modification of garments, thus entering thousands of households. "Now, we are developing a family softener for this silicone oil, which is to immerse the garment in it and attach a film to the surface, thereby becoming pilling-resistant and super-elastic." Zhu Jianhua said.

It is this spirit of innovating products and endless R&D that enables Runhe to calmly respond to the rapid changes in the market. According to statistics from China Fluorosilicone Organic Materials Industry Association, "Runhe Materials", which started from textile and chemical industry in 2000, ranks among the top three in the market share of block silicone oil products; in 2019, "Runhe Materials" spinning business The sales volume of silicone softeners of the Ministry reached 630 million yuan; in 2020, under the tremendous impact of the epidemic on various industries, "Runhe Materials" still achieved sales of 69.04 million yuan in the first quarter.