A brief introduction to the silicone rubber keypad manufacturing

What is meant by a silicone rubber keypad?

An elastomeric keypad, sometimes known as a silicone rubber keypad, is a type of input device having a compression-molded silicone rubber webbing. A printed circuit board is encased in a silicone rubber keypad manufacturing process. The keypads are a necessary component in a wide range of applications.

Silicone rubber keypad manufacturing process is a rubber-like substance made up of silicone, oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon. Silicone keyboards activate a switching function and provide a tactile sense by including carbon pills. This one-of-a-kind keypad material is also adaptable and straightforward to personalize

Properties of silicone rubber keypad:

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  Silicone rubber keypads have excellent compression molding qualities. They have a one-of-a-kind mix of mechanical and chemical attributes that regular rubber does not have.
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  Because of their resistance to environmental deterioration, silicone rubber keypads are popular. They are typically non-reactive and robust to high temperatures and conditions. The mechanical qualities of silicone keypads (tear strength, elongation, and tensile strength) are much better than those of standard rubber keypads at high temperatures.
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  Because a silicone rubber keypad manufacturing process is a natural light diffuser, it is simple to backlight with LEDs. Silicone rubber keypads are also waterproof, so accidental spills will not damage the circuit board.

How Do Silicone Rubber Keypads Get Their Shape?

Create the Tool: 

Elastomeric keypad designs necessitate using a two-plate mold tool that includes a silicone compression molding tool (top half) and molded keypad (bottom half). Mold tools can be created using EDM or CNC milling equipment. For the best results, the molding tool is pre-heated. Silicone rubber keypads can be specially designed to provide pleasant feedback when pressed. The keypad should have around .060 inches of travel to create the perfect tactile sensation. 
The actuation forces of the keys on the keypad vary. A cone-shaped key, for example, has an actuation force ranging from 20 to 250 grams, whereas a flat-shaped legend has an actuation force ranging from 20 to 100 grams. The silicone rubber keypads produced by the molding process should have a minimum return force of at least 30 grams. This will prevent keys from sticking to the silicone keypad.

• Select the Best Type of Silicone Rubber:

To create silicone rubber keypads, we employ two types of silicone material: gum stock and liquid. Liquid silicone rubber is made of platinum-cured silicone and is remarkably resistant to high temperatures. The viscosity of liquid silicone rubber is comparable to that of petroleum jelly. The features are typically less costly and easier to manufacture utilizing liquid injection molding.

Gum stock silicone rubber, on the other hand, is a thick putty-like rubber with high consistency. Large sets of solid silicone rubber are produced. Before adding a peroxide catalyst, the components are generally combined at a high temperature.
To make gum stock silicone rubber, the cross-linking process is frequently halted. After that, the moderately cross-linked silicone is rolled out into sheets.

• Prepare the Silicone Preform:

Silicone rubber compression molding is one of the most efficient processes for producing industrial electrical goods. It will be the practical approach used in this demonstration. However, we must first prepare the silicone preforms.
Before vulcanization, the silicone rubber keypad manufacturing process was flexible. Color is typically applied to the mold to meet our clients’ individual needs or personal preferences. Each molded item has just the correct quantity of silicone. We weigh and cut the silicone into preforms with care. The cut pieces are then placed in the tooling cavity, ensuring that the proper quantity fills each hole.

• Packing Silicone Preforms into the Mould cavity:

Once we’ve determined the best mold design for the elastomeric keypads, we’ll pour the silicone rubber material into the mold tool. We put the silicone rubber preforms together and inserted them into the compression molding press. The clamp is then pressed at pressure to produce high-quality rubber keypad pieces.
The silicone preform must have the proper shape to fit the mold cavity. It ensures the hole is filled with adequate raw material without producing excess flash. The overflow material attached to the pieces around the edge of the molded rubber keypad is called additional flash.
Pressure, heat, and time will change the silicone preforms into the keypad mold arrangement at the bottom. Pressure and heat cause the silicone rubber to flow and fill the mold cavity, forming the rubber keypad.

• Curing and Removing the Tool’s Keypad:

Molded silicone rubber keypads typically take 5 minutes to cure at 180°C. We must maintain the optimal temperature and pressure until the rubber has cured.
After hardening, we remove the silicone keyboard from the mold tool. A pair of gloves and a pressurized air hose are required for the removal or ejection operation. The gloves are necessary because the silicone rubber keypads in the mold tool are extremely hot. The pressurized air hose aids in the removal of the silicone keypads from the device.

• Screen printing the silicone keypads:

The next critical step is to define the purpose of each key on the silicone rubber keypads. The four most common processes for printing silicone rubber keypads are screen printing, silicone ink, laser marking, and label plate engraving.
In our production, however, we utilize screen printing to provide higher quality control. It is also one of the most cost-effective mass-production processes. Two things are required for screen printing, screen print color, and a hollowed mesh.
Letters for the key tops are hollowed out in a mesh. The keypad is inserted into a screen nest, revealing only the key tops. During the production process, the screen nest will keep the silicone rubber keypad fixed.
After drying, we employ laser etching to expose the final color on the silicone rubber keypads. We conduct laser etching in more acceptable tolerances than screen printing to achieve precise keypad nomenclature.

Read more: Magnificent ways of silicone rubber keypad design

Conclusion:

It is an outstanding choice. It is a creative way to make your keyboard more enjoyable and straightforward. These keypads are a novel way to replace the traditional keyboard. NICEONE KEYPAD gives a silicone rubber keypad manufacturing process has you covered if you’re searching for a high-quality keypad. Because of its excellent quality and affordable cost, our product is quite popular among customers. We look forward to hearing from you.