RawSource

A supplier tells you the market “moved,” and the number on your renewal quote is 12% higher than last quarter. Was that the market, or was that the seller? Without an independent read on where bulk chemical prices are heading, every RFQ negotiation starts from the counterparty’s version of reality. This index gives you a second opinion, built entirely from public data you can...

Whiteness is unforgiving. A finisher running white or pastel goods can spec the softest amino silicone on the market and still lose the lot to yellowing, because the same amine groups that anchor the softener to the fiber oxidize under heat. That is one of several places in a mill where the plain, non-reactive silicone emulsion (no amine, no anchor, no yellowing chemistry) is...

Spraying neat release fluid on a high-volume rubber line gets expensive fast, and solvent-cut release brings flash-off fumes and a fire-watch mentality to a shop that mostly wants parts out of molds. That is the slot a water-based silicone emulsion fills. You buy concentrated silicone, dilute it into plain water at the plant, and spray, dip, or brush it onto tooling all day w...

Order “silicone emulsion” from three suppliers and you can receive three different products: 35% solids, 50%, 60%, different base-fluid viscosities, different emulsifier systems. The quotes will not be comparable, and the cheapest drum may be the most expensive silicone. The solids number is what makes the quotes comparable, and 60% is the class most bulk buyers end up specif...

A supplier tells you to add “a few ppm,” you dose the tank, and the foam gets worse. That is the most common dosing mistake in foam control, and it is avoidable. A defoamer has a starting dose, a feed point, and a ceiling above which it stops helping and starts hurting. All three change with the system. This guide puts the typical starting numbers in one place, so you can dia...