WACKER opens technology center for specialty silanes in China
To strengthen its specialties business, WACKER and joint-venture partner SICO Performance Material, a Chinese specialty silane producer, have opened a new application development center for organofunctional silanes in Jining, China. Investments in the WACKER SICO Application Development Center (ADC) facility total a mid-six-figure euro sum.
Jining-based SICO Performance Material is one of China’s leading producers of specialty silanes. WACKER has held a majority stake in the company since 2022.
Representatives from WACKER’s Silicones division and SICO Performance Material at the opening of the WACKER SICO Application Development Center in Jining, China.
“As a provider of innovative silicone specialties and solutions, we can use this development center to achieve a key milestone for our business in China. Our focus is on high-margin specialty silanes, for which demand in China is rising continuously,” said Tom Koini, President of WACKER’s Silicones business division.
The approx. 2,300-square-meter facility features several laboratories. The focus is on development of additives, adhesion promoters and stabilizers based on organofunctional silanes and functional silicone fluids. Such specialty silanes make it possible to formulate high-quality adhesives and sealants, coatings and plastic products, which are used in high-tech sectors, such as electromobility, electronics, power engineering, telecommunications, and coatings.
In addition, the technology center acts as an interface between research, technical support and production. For example, SICO’s production and scale-up resources, which are also located in Jining, can be fully leveraged for development work. The technology center thus enables rapid market launch of new products.
The two partners have decades of experience in organofunctional silanes. They are used as adhesion promoters for the production of high-performance adhesives, sealants and coatings, as binders for composite materials or as additives to enhance plastics. As specialty silanes improve the mechanical and chemical properties of products, demand for such hybrid polymers has been rising for many years.
