A Novel Method for Monitoring the Skinning Process of Sealing Silicones

Tight and faultless sealing is very important, when joining different internal-combustion engine parts (cylinder head - cylinder block - crankcase - oil sump). For this purpose, silicones are widely used. However, the curing process of silicones varies in a wide range - according to assembly line experiments. Environmental conditions as well as the properties of the actual silicone material can strongly affect the curing. Consequently, a local qualification possibility of the supplied silicone at the assembly line would be favourable. We evolved a novel testing method, which give us real-time information about the curing process of a silicon sample. According to this method a machine was built and installed at the motor assembly plant of AUDI HUNGARIA MOTOR Kft. at Gyor (Hungary) and patent claim was announced for it at DPMA (German Patent Office).