Applications: Cultured Marble/Onyx/Granite Effect/Engineered Stone  

Silmar® Resins
Silmar resins deliver the strength, durability and beauty needed in cultured marble, onyx, granite effect, and engineered stone products.

Silmar is a pioneer in marble casting resins. Our best selling marble resin (SIL90BA-585) is the standard by which competitive resins are judged. Resins used in cultured marble applications need color consistency, excellent air release properties, and good thermal shock properties to withstand years of use. This resin offers a medium viscosity for high filler loading and reduced cost.

Our SIL94 Series two-way resins (also called swing resins) are very good choices for manufacturing lovely marble or onyx products.

Color consistency is extremely critical for resins used in onyx applications. Silmar excels at this; in fact it is a Silmar product hallmark. The Silmar SIL92BA-793C resin is very popular in onyx applications. It features a good, consistent cure while maintaining a low color.

Volume Enhancing Resins
Interplastic Corporation has created a unique line of Silmar volume enhancing resins that increase production volumes, decrease part weights, and save money. The resins are simple to use. A casting manufacturer merely replaces their existing casting resin with Interplastic’s Silmar brand of volume enhancing resin.

Silmar’s volume enhancing resins are designed to hold microscopic air and uniformly disburse it. The tiny air bubbles reduce the amount of resin required to make the same number of parts, thereby reducing resin costs.  This is best achieved with an auto caster. The sheer energy of the caster’s auger breaks large air bubbles into small air bubbles, thus increasing the matrix volumetrically and further enhancing a manufacturer’s savings. Manufacturers are experiencing up to 16 percent in total raw materials savings by using the new resins.

These resins also eliminate back patching, a common cosmetic repair done to remove blemishes caused by air rising to the back side of the part being manufactured. Eliminating back patching saves additional manufacturing time, material, and labor. 

The micro encapsulated air also makes parts lighter. As long as the part thicknesses are within specification, the lighter weight does not compromise the part’s physical performance. Silmar has conducted exhaustive physical testing on products made with its volume enhancing resins and has confirmed excellent performance characteristics. 

Since the part is less dense, shaping the edges and drain areas of the units with electric/pneumatic grinders is easier, making the installation faster too.

Gel Coats and Colorants
The Gel Coat and Colorant Group makes both clear and pigmented iso/NPG® gel coats for the casting polymer industry. The SIL08LH-70 and SIL08LH-70/S clear gel coats and our pigmented sanitary ware iso/NPG gel coats have been widely accepted in custom and high production cast polymer manufacturing operations. All these products far exceed the ICPA's thermal shock test requirements. In addition, our iso/NPG gel coats for cast polymer parts are Canadian Standards Association-approved.

Heavy metal-free veining colorants and colorants to pigment matrices are available in a variety of popular colors. CoREZYN veining colorants are especially formulated for use in continuous cast machines.

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