Silicone cases offer advantages such as high and low-temperature resistance (-40°C to 230°C), anti-slip and drop protection, and environmental friendliness.
Anti-Drop Protection
Silicone cases can absorb impact and reduce damage to devices when dropped. Suitable for devices prone to falling, such as smartphones and e-cigarettes.
- Smartphones: Silicone cases absorb impact, reduce damage from drops, and provide a good grip to prevent slipping.
- Tablets: Silicone cases provide all-around protection, and some designs include a stand function for watching videos or video conferencing.
- Laptops: Silicone cases are lightweight and durable, preventing surface scratches or impacts.
- Smartwatches: Silicone cases protect watch screens and casings from scratches and are comfortable for long-term wear.
- Earphones: Silicone protective covers prevent earphone wires from tangling and keep them neat.
- Electronic Cigarettes: Silicone protective covers absorb impact, prevent damage from drops, and provide a good grip.
- Electronic Equipment Buttons, Interfaces, Radiators, Batteries, Antennas, Displays, and Casings: Silicone protective covers offer dust and water resistance, extending the equipment’s lifespan.
Anti-Slip Design
Silicone material provides excellent grip, effectively preventing devices from slipping. Suitable for devices that require a secure hold, such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
Waterproof and Dustproof
Some silicone cases feature a sealed structure, providing a certain degree of waterproof and dustproof protection. Suitable for electronic devices that require such protection, such as interfaces and displays.
Aesthetic Decoration
Silicone cases come in various colors and customizable shapes, enhancing the device’s appearance and showcasing personality. Suitable for users who prioritize aesthetics and personalization.
Portability
Silicone material is lightweight and easy to carry. Suitable for small devices like earphones and e-cigarettes.
Maternal and Child Products
Silicone material is often used to make pacifiers, bottle protective covers, teethers, etc., due to its softness and elasticity. It is safe, non-toxic, and provides a comfortable touch for babies.
Silicone cases are widely used in electronics (e.g., AirPod cases, iPhone cases), children’s products, homeware, and medical or industrial areas.
What Is a Silicone Case?
A silicone case is a protective cover or shell made of silicone material, typically formed through vulcanization compression molding, liquid injection molding, or drip molding of silicone raw materials. It is characterized by environmental friendliness, safety, and drop resistance.
Silicone cases are generally soft, durable, shatter-resistant, environmentally friendly, scratch-proof, and easy to clean. Crafted from flexible and shock-absorbent material, silicone cases offer full-edge protection against life’s unpredictable moments.
Silicone cases vary according to their characteristics and application scenarios:
- Silicone Medical Device Cases: Ideal for handheld scanners, instruments, printers, POS devices, thermal imaging cameras, and testing equipment. Using protective cases saves customers money by preventing potential product damage.
- Silicone iPad Cases, Mobile Phone Cases, iPad Covers, Earbuds Silicone Cases, and Other Electronic Products: Includes silicone pencil cases, etc.
What Are the Advantages of Silicone Cases?
- Environmental Protection and Safety: Silicone cases use environmentally friendly gas-phase silica gel, which has good chemical stability. It does not react with any acid or alkali except in extreme cases (caustic alkali and hydrofluoric acid). It is non-toxic and odorless, making it suitable for high-safety products like baby pacifiers and silicone bottles.
- Good Cushioning Performance: Provides effective shock absorption when dropped.
- Durability: The material is stable and not easily worn.
- Good Waterproof Performance: Offers a certain level of waterproofing.
- Strong Protection: Effectively prevents device damage from accidental drops.
- Versatility: Includes anti-slip, waterproof, and dustproof functions.
- Aesthetics: Available in various colors and customizable shapes to enhance device appearance.
Z.S.R offers various custom silicone cases in different shapes and colors for industries such as baby products, homeware, electronics, and promotional items.
Materials, Tools, Equipment
Depending on the silicone case manufacturing process, there are five methods: silicone rubber compression molding, LSR injection molding, silicone drip molding, silicone extrusion molding, and silicone calendaring molding. At Z.S.R, we have the capacity for three molding processes for silicone cases. Different molding processes require different materials, tools, and equipment.
Silicone compression molding
Silicone Compression Molding
The main materials for producing silicone cases include silicone raw material, crosslinking agent, catalyst, filler, and additives. These materials work together to create silicone cases. Typically, silicone rubber raw material, crosslinking agent, and filler are combined into one component, while the catalyst is a separate component. Thus, molded silicone products are also called two-component vulcanized silicone products.
At Z.S.R, all silicone raw materials are FDA or LFGB-approved 100% food-grade silicone rubber. The crosslinking agent and catalyst are platinum-based if required.
The cost of solid silicone rubber cases is relatively low. These cases can achieve environmentally friendly food-grade standards with high-quality materials, making them a popular choice for consumers from the USA and Australia.
Material Preparation
Choose the correct standard material based on your product’s function and test standards, such as FDA or LFGB.
Silicone Rubber Mixer
Used to mix raw materials with additives like vulcanizer and color paste. Z.S.R has two silicone rubber mixer workshops and machines for mixing materials for your silicone cases.
Silicone Rubber Cutter
Cuts the refined silicone material into the required size and weight. Z.S.R has two silicone rubber cutting machines for this purpose.
Electronic Scale
Weighs the cut silicone rubber mixed material to ensure it falls within the error range. Z.S.R has over 60 electronic scales for each silicone compression molding machine.
Mold Preparation
Before production, create the corresponding mold based on product design requirements. The mold’s shape and size determine the product’s shape and size. Mold materials are typically steel or aluminum alloy (for prototype tooling). Z.S.R International Group (HONG KONG) CO., LIMITED has an in-house tool shop with six advanced CNC machining centers and three EDM spark machines for tooling. This allows us to produce and repair most silicone case tooling in-house to meet your timeline. Our complete mold workshop helps develop new silicone product designs and offers creative silicone case OEM & ODM services.
Molding Stage
Install the prepared mold on the vulcanizer to ensure a good fit and seal. The hydraulic compression molding machine (flat vulcanizer) provides the necessary pressure, mold temperature, and vulcanization time. After heating the mold to the appropriate temperature, place the prepared silicone raw material into the mold for molding. Control parameters like temperature, pressure, and time to ensure complete molding and accurate dimensions. Z.S.R has 32 silicone rubber molding machines for your silicone products.
Sandblasting Machine:
Cleans the molding mold to maintain cleanliness during production.
Post-Processing
Silicone cases require post-processing, such as deburring, cleaning, and drying, to improve appearance and durability.
Quality Inspection
An essential step to ensure product quality, including appearance inspection, size measurement, and performance testing. Only products passing strict quality inspections are shipped.
Packaging and Shipment
Products that pass inspection are packaged and shipped. Packaging materials comply with relevant standards to ensure products remain undamaged during transportation.
Z.S.R’s daily mass production capacity for silicone cases ranges from 21,000 to 79,999 pieces, depending on structure and size, using 32 molding machines. Contact Z.S.R to create your own silicone cases.
L.S.R injection molding
Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR) Injection Molding
Liquid silicone injection molding primarily uses liquid silicone rubber (LSR), a two-component thermosetting material. Component A contains a platinum catalyst, while Component B contains a cross-linking agent. LSR is liquid before curing and becomes an elastomer after curing.
The liquid silicone processing is relatively high cost. It is processed with liquid silicone rubber with water-like silicone case material. The Liquid silicone rubber silicone cases feels more softer, has better rebound, and the parting line is smaller than that of solid silicone. However, the minimum order of the silicone case is higher. And the LSR silicone case’s injection mold cost is higher also.
Material preparation: Choose the appropriate liquid silicone type based on a comprehensive assessment of the product’s purpose, properties, shape, etc. For example, the medical industry should choose medical-grade silicone materials, and infant products generally use highly transparent food-grade liquid silicone raw materials. Prepare the appropriate color paste so that it can be mixed to achieve the final LSR molded product color that customer needed.
Mixing equipment: It is used to mix the liquid silicone of components A and B to ensure accurate proportions and uniform mixing. Common mixing equipment includes static mixers and vacuum tanks, etc.
Vacuum pump: used to remove bubbles from liquid silicone to ensure that the surface of the molded product is smooth and flawless.
Mixing container and stirring rod: containers and tools used to mix liquid silicone to ensure uniform mixing
Silicone Injection Mold: The mold is the carrier for liquid silicone injection molding. Its design and manufacturing must consider factors such as the fluidity of silicone, shrinkage after solidification, and the shape, size and wall thickness of the product. The precision and durability of the mold have a direct impact on the quality of the final product.
Z.S.R have 12 experienced engineer will consider your molded LSR products structure and design your silicone injection mold with the correct parting line and gate. Then Z.S.R team will make your precision injection tooling in our one roof mold workshop.
Injection molding machine: The injection molding machine is the core equipment for liquid silicone injection molding, which is used to inject the mixed liquid silicone into the mold. Common types of injection molding machines include vertical injection molding machines and horizontal injection molding machines.
Vertical injection molding machines are suitable for small-batch production and automatic molding of complex products, while horizontal injection molding machines are suitable for large-scale production, especially in the production of products that require high precision and smooth surfaces. Such as silicone baby nipple, baby pacifier or silicone medical products.
The mold needs to be preheated to 170~200℃, and the liquid silicone is injected into the mold through the injection molding machine. The injection pressure and temperature need to be precisely controlled.
Curing: Liquid silicone undergoes a curing reaction at high temperature, and the catalyst accelerates the curing process
Demolding and post-processing: The cured LSR silicone cases needs to be demolded from the mold, and some products may also require post-curing treatment, cleaning and removal of impurities
Quality control: Products must undergo strict quality inspections, including tests on size, hardness, transparency and elasticity
Packaging and transportation: Products that pass quality inspections will be cleanly packaged and shipped to the location specified by the customer
Z.S.R own 7 sets LSR injection molding machine to put your LSR silicone cases on mass production.
Z.S.R one day mass production capability for 10000-69999/pcs silicone cases according to the structure and size with the 7 sets molding machines. Liquid injection molding is very friendly to silicone products with high precision, high requirements and large-scale production to ensure product consistency, and is the most suitable choice.
Silicone Dripping dispensing molding
Multi-Color Dripping Molding
Need prepare silicone as the main material for dispensing molding, usually liquid silicone (LSR) and solid silicone, color paste, vulcanizer, and also need silicone vacuum machine and automatic dispensing machine. As this kind of molding have two kind of molding process. We also call them co-injection molding. Mixed L.S.R material dripping from the automatic dispensing machine first, then heat and curing. Put the solid silicone rubber material on and close the molds put them silicone vacuum machine Vulcanization molding.
L.S.R Material prepared
Choose the appropriate liquid silicone type based on a comprehensive assessment of the product’s purpose, properties, shape, etc. For example, the medical industry should choose medical-grade silicone materials, and infant products generally use highly transparent food-grade liquid silicone raw materials. Prepare the appropriate color paste so that it can be mixed to achieve the final LSR molded product color that customer needed.
Solid silicone material prepared
Silicone rubber mixer: The silicone rubber material mixer is used to mix the raw materials with additives such as vulcanizer and color paste. used to add vulcanizer, masterbatch and other auxiliary materials to the raw materials, and refine the raw rubber into usable raw rubber. Z.S.R have 2 Silicone rubber mixer workshop and machine to mixed the material for your silicone lids.
Mixing equipment: It is used to mix the liquid silicone of components A and B to ensure accurate proportions and uniform mixing. Common mixing equipment includes static mixers and vacuum tanks, etc.
Vacuum pump: used to remove bubbles from liquid silicone to ensure that the surface of the molded product is smooth and flawless.
Mixing container and stirring rod: containers and tools used to mix liquid silicone to ensure uniform mixing.
Silicone rubber mixer: The silicone rubber material mixer is used to mix the raw materials with additives such as vulcanizer and color paste. used to add vulcanizer, masterbatch and other auxiliary materials to the raw materials, and refine the raw rubber into usable raw rubber. Z.S.R have 2 Silicone rubber mixer workshop and machine to mixed the material for your silicone cases.
Silicone Rubber cutter: cuts the refined silicone material into the required size and weight for making products. Z.S.R have 2 silicone rubber cutting machine to cut the material for your silicone cases.
Electronic scale: Weight the cutted silicone rubber mixed material to ensure that the product is within the error range. We have more than 60 Electronic scales for each silicone compression molding machine.
Mold: The mold is a key component of drop molding, usually made of aluminum mold, brass mold, electroplating or silicone mold. The design and production of the mold have an important impact on the quality and appearance of the product. The Z.S.R team has rich experience in making silicone drop molding molds, from Bing Dwen Dwen colorful ribbons to Disney characters, they can be perfectly reproduced.
Drop molding machine: This is the core equipment for silicone drop molding. It is mainly used to move the dispensing needle of LSR material that has been vacuum scheduled to the specified position of the drop molding mold, and control the amount of dispensing by controlling the time of extruding the paste resin and the speed of the needle moving.
The drop molding machine is mainly composed of two parts: the control system and the machine structure. Commonly used control systems include LOGOSHOP, CRS-DriptMold, etc.
Adjust the glue dispensing speed, glue dispensing position and glue dispensing thickness of the glue dispenser according to the requirements of the product. Ensure the normal operation and glue dispensing effect of the glue dispenser. After debugging, conduct a trial run to ensure that the glue dispenser can work stably and accurately.
Molding stage: Place the mold under the glue dispenser, control the glue dispensing position and speed of the glue dispenser, and accurately drip the silicone mixture onto the mold. According to the needs of the product, glue can be dispensed multiple times until the required thickness and shape are achieved.
Heating equipment for silicone curing: During the drop molding process, heating is required to make LSR resin react chemically and become solid. Therefore, heating equipment is essential. Place the glued product in a constant temperature area to cure the silicone in few minutes.
Second Molding stage: Put the cutted mixed solid silicone rubber material on the curred LSR, then closed the mold and put the mold to hydraulic compress molding machine (also known as the flat vulcanizer) provides the pressure, mold temperature and vulcanization time required for molding; The vulcanization temperature and pressure are adjusted according to the silicone raw material and product requirements. Z.S.R have 16 sets silicone dripping molding line to molded your multi-colored silicone products.
Cooling and demolding: After the vulcanization is completed, remove the mold from the vulcanizer, open the mold after cooling to room temperature, and take out the silicone case
Post-processing: The silicone case is trimmed, deburred, and other treatments are performed to achieve the ideal shape and surface quality.
Z.S.R own 16 sets dripping molding line to put your multi-colored silicone cases on mass production.
Z.S.R one day mass production capability for 12000-39999/pcs silicone cases according to the structure and size with the 12 dripping molding lines. Silicone dripping molding is very friendly to silicone products with multi-colored, 3D effect, IP and cute products to ensure the products with colorful and 3D effect without post printing.
Customization Process for Creating Your Private Silicone Cases
In Z.S.R, we can custom the silicone cases shape, size, color, pattern, brands, logo by silkscreen printing, full-color printing, or laser engraving for your silicone products, if you would like to custom your brands silicone cases contact Z.S.R.
Customizable Content
- Appearance (Shape, Color): Shapes can be round, square, or creative designs via new tooling. Colors include white, blue, black, or Pantone-matching. Mixed, marble, double-colored, or multi-colored appearances are available.
- Material Properties: Choose HTV or LSR materials. Hardness ranges from 5-80 Shore A, translucent to highly transparent, food-grade to medical-grade safety levels, and varying tensile properties.
- Mold Type: Steel, copper, or aluminum.
- Molding Method: LSR injection molding, HTV compression molding, or drip molding.
- Labeling: Logos can be incorporated into the tooling or added via screen printing, laser engraving, or heat transfer printing.
- Packaging: Zip bags, back card PET boxes, or color boxes.
- Shipping Method: DHL, FedEx, air shipping, or sea shipping.
How to Create Your Silicone Case Brand or Business
1. Design 3D structure of the silicone case according to your idea
2. Make the silicone case tooling according to the silicone case design requirements (Signal color or multi color) use the different metal, such as steel, copper or AL to ensure the accuracy and durability of the tooling.
Z.S.R International Group (HONG KONG) CO., LIMITED in-house tool shop consists 6 sets of advanced CNC machining centers and 3 sets of EDM spark machines for tooling; So, we can make most of the silicone case tooling and repair the silicone case tooling in our factory to catch up your time needed.
3. Prepare the silicone case raw material: Raw silicone material are the key to silicone case’s products. Usually, silicone cases meet certain environmental protection standards, so silicone case material are no exception. Normally, environmentally friendly Fumed silicone rubber is selected for customized processing, while many manufacturers use Precipitated silicone rubber for processing. Although the product is not greatly affected, it is still different Fumed silicone rubber from in quality after a long time. Mix the silicone color according to your silicone case needed. Cutting the silicone case material in the correct weight. The color matching principle of the silicone raw materials used in silicone cases is basically the same as the color matching principle in art painting. The white translucent silicone raw materials are combined with the addition of vulcanizers by adding color pastes of corresponding color proportions into them to mix and knead to obtain the corresponding required color. The color matching color is generally based on the international Pantone color card, namely PANTONE color or actual color samples.
4. Feeding the prepared silicone cases mixed material on-Feeding the silicone case material no matter the Liquid silicone rubber or solid silicone rubber in to the mold.
5. Curing the silicone case: The silicone cases material is feeding into the mold after mixing, and the silicone cases material is filled into the entire space of the mold through heating and pressure. The temperature, pressure and time control of the molding process directly affect the size, shape and quality of the silicone cases.
No matter the silicone case was made by: Compression molding or silicone dripping molding or LSR molding.
6.Demolding: After the curing is completed, take the silicone case product out of the mold.
7.QC the silicone case: Quality inspection: Visually inspect the molded silicone case to see if there is lack of silicone case material, uncooked Ness, or impurities
8. Post-processing: Carry out the silicone case and then do the post processing and treatment, such as trimming, grinding, polishing, spraying, inspection, etc.
9. Secondary vulcanization: Secondary vulcanization is a process that must be handled for any product that has passed the inspection. The main reason why silicone cases have a certain smell is that they have not been subjected to Secondary vulcanization baking, and the catalyst of the raw silicone cases material of the products has not been emitted.
At present, many silicone product manufacturers basically handle it, but the time and temperature of the Secondary vulcanization treatment are different. Bake in oven 2-4 hours to meet FDA or LFGB Standard. LSR silicone case may do not need this process.
10. LOGO or Pattern printing on the silicone cases if needed: screen printing or laser engraving. Most of time, we put the silicone case logo on the silicone tooling directly. Check the products branding service to know more.
11. Final Quality control and testing: After all the silicone case making process finished, we will arrange the final QC for the silicone case before the delivery.
12. Package and Warehouse: Z. S. R offer custom packaging solutions you need for all your silicone case packaging. Our custom packaging includes paper boxes, PE/PVC boxes, printed labels, hangtags, barcode stickers, etc to protect the safety of the silicone case during transportation and storage, while ensuring the safety and aesthetics of the silicone case.
In Z.S.R, we manufacture the silicone case according to the client’s design and idea. We try our best to deliver the quality silicone case to our customer
Notice
When purchasing silicone cases, consider the following:
- Material and Certification: Ensure the silicone case is non-toxic, environmentally friendly, and free of lead, PVC, and phthalates. Check for safety test certificates, such as GB 4806.11-2016 (China), FDA (USA), CPSIA, or LFGB (EU). Food-grade silicone is preferred.
- Choose a Reliable Brand: Purchase from reputable brands to avoid safety hazards.
- Thickness and Protection: Silicone phone cases are typically thicker, offering better drop and collision protection.
- Feel and Durability: Liquid silicone cases feel smooth, rebound quickly, and do not yellow or discolor over time.
- Overall Considerations: Consider material, safety, brand, function, and size to ensure safe use.
Conclusion
Whether you want to create silicone cases with your logo or design for sales, promotions, or events, Z.S.R’s high-quality customized silicone cases are perfect for branding, souvenirs, and corporate gifts.
Z.S.R’s customized branded silicone cases with your logo, design pattern, or text are excellent choices.
At Z.S.R, every step—from material selection to molding, curing, and quality control—plays a vital role in creating silicone cases that meet safety standards and perform well in their intended applications.
Contact Z.S.R to brand your own silicone cases through contract manufacturing.
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About Author: Z.S.R International Group
Z.S.R International Group(Hong Kong) co., Limited, is a one-stop supplier for molded silicone products and silicone products molding solution provider in the consumer products field. We offer OEM services from silicone product design to Silicone products contract manufacturing. We have the capability for custom silicone tooling, LSR(Liquid silicone Rubber) molded silicone products, solid silicone molded products, molded silicone multi-colored products. We also can custom molded silicone, custom molded LSR, custom molded dripping injection dispensing(co-injection) silicone multi-colored products.
