OK guys. If I want to know if a certain organic solvent will soften fully cured silicone caulk this is what I do. I take a piece of glass with the dimensions of a business card. Coat one entire side with silicone caulk. Give it 24 hours to fully cure at room temp. Fill half a small glass with the liquid solvent in question. Place the test glass in the cup so only half the test glass is immersed. Give it thirty minutes or an hour. Take it out and dig away with your fingernail. The silicone that was not immersed will be impossible to move. If your solvent was powerful enough you will be able to easily dig off the silicone from that side. Next.
You will want a solvent that doesn’t stink too bad. It shouldn’t be on the proposition 66 list. Must have a very slow evaporation rate so it doesn’t poof away in the hot sun. And mix well with water so it can be quickly removed without leaving any residue. Such a solvent can also be blended with an optical grade abrasive so it will cut through any silicone fingerprints with extreme ease. Voila. You now have a custom product that will knock out any commercial product out there.
Great idea. It would be a more effective product and one we would use if it didn’t take 30+ minutes to work. We are generally having to move quickly so that amount of dwell time is not very useable. Do you have any magic solutions that work in 5 minutes or less? Thanks for the post.
This was only a test. In other words I set this up as a comparison test against other chems. The idea is not to have to wait thirty minutes. Most caulk can be removed with a plastic or metal blade. Then we need to dig through the residue remaining. If a solvent is strong enough to soften a thick layer of caulk so you can dig it off with your thumbnail, then it will chew up silicone residue in seconds if mixed with the right optical grade abrasive powder. Even removing a few nanometers of glass in the process. Pure water will sheet over the “new” surface once the caulk has been chewed off. Not bead up. Want a sample of this stuff? Send me an email. Or ask the WCR. I am working with Chris and Alex on product development. Again I ask. Want to play?
