Thermoplastic silicone elastomer, referred to as Si-TPV or TPSiV, also known as silicone thermoplastic elastomer, refers to both organic silicone rubber and thermoplastic excellent properties of composite materials. TPSiV has the advantages of high elastic modulus, strong thermoplastic processing ability, high strength, and good self-healing ability, and is widely used in consumer electronics, automobile manufacturing, medical and health care, aerospace, sports equipment and other fields.

According to the different substrates, TPSiV can be divided into polyurethane TPSiV, nylon TPSiV and polyolefin TPSiV three types. Polyurethane based TPSiV, also known as TPU based TPSiV, has good physical and mechanical properties, good bonding properties and other advantages, can be used in the manufacture of artificial leather materials; Nylon based TPSiV has the advantages of good tensile property and high melt strength, and can be used to manufacture all kinds of pipes. Polyolefin based TPSiV has excellent low temperature resistance and flexibility, which is the most widely used TPSiV. In the future, with the increasing demand for segmented product applications, the prosperity of the TPSiV industry will be further improved.

TPSiV industry technical barriers are high, in the preparation process need to strictly control the parameters to ensure product quality. TPSiV can be prepared by silicone crosslinking, physical irradiation crosslinking and peroxide crosslinking. The organic silicon crosslinking method refers to the dynamic Fe (III) -pyridine coordination bond/ion cluster inserted into the polysiloxane molecular chain, and the finished product is prepared through the process of molding and shearing. Physical radiation crosslinking method refers to the thermoplastic materials and silicone rubber as raw materials, through forming, radiation crosslinking, cleaning, ‌ and other processes to produce finished products.

According to the "2024 Global and China thermoplastic silicone elastomer (Si-TPV/TPSiV) Industry In-depth Research Report" released by the New Thinking Industry Research Center, TPSiV is widely used in many fields, including consumer electronics, automobile manufacturing, medical and health, aerospace, sports equipment and so on. In the field of consumer electronics, TPSiV can be used to manufacture flexible wearable devices, mobile phone casings, etc. In the field of automobile manufacturing, it can be used as automobile shock absorption material; In the medical field, it can be used to manufacture orthopedic AIDS and medical catheters. In the field of sports equipment, it can be used to manufacture car helmets, sports knee pads and so on.

The global TPSiV market is mainly concentrated in Europe and the United States, with representative companies including Dow Corning in the United States and WACKER in Germany. In the local aspect, compared with European and American countries, China's TPSiV industry started late, limited by high technical barriers, and fewer market participants. Silike, ‌ Dongyue Silicon Materials, Silbao Technology, etc. are the main TPSiV manufacturers in China.

Industry analysts said that TPSiV has excellent performance and is widely used in many fields, and its industry development space will be further expanded with the growth of market demand in the future. However, at present, the core technology of TPSiV is mastered by European and American countries, and the number of enterprises with its large-scale production strength is small in China. It is expected that in the next period of time, with national policy support and technological progress, the localization process of China's TPSiV market will be further accelerated.