Against the backdrop of the global manufacturing industry's transition towards high-end and intelligent manufacturing, ethyl silicone oil - this seemingly low-key organic silicon material - is becoming a "hidden champion" in aerospace, precision electronics, new energy and other fields with its unique performance advantages. As a modified product of polydimethylsiloxane, ethyl silicone oil significantly improves lubrication, hydrophobicity, and dielectric properties by introducing ethyl groups, while maintaining the original temperature resistance and chemical stability of silicone oil, providing key support for the reliability of high-end equipment.


Technological breakthrough: from 'following' to 'leading'
For a long time, the core technology of ethyl silicone oil has been monopolized by international giants such as Dow Chemical and Shinetsu Chemical, and domestic enterprises rely heavily on imports. In recent years, with the increasing attention of the country to the new materials industry, domestic research institutions and enterprises have jointly tackled key issues and made significant breakthroughs in the synthesis process, molecular structure design, and functional modification of ethyl silicone oil. For example, a leading enterprise has successfully developed an ultra wide temperature resistant ethyl silicone oil with a temperature range of -80 ℃ to 250 ℃ through "molecular chain precise control technology", filling the domestic gap; Another company utilizes nanocomposite technology to reduce the friction coefficient of ethyl silicone oil to below 0.01, reaching the international advanced level.


Application Expansion: Lubricants for High end Manufacturing
The excellent performance of ethyl silicone oil makes it shine in the high-end manufacturing field:


Aerospace: In rocket engine seals and satellite solar panel coatings, ethyl silicone oil ensures long-term stable operation of equipment in extreme environments due to its extremely low volatility and excellent radiation resistance.
Precision electronics: As an additive in semiconductor packaging materials, ethyl silicone oil can significantly reduce stress during the packaging process and improve chip yield; In 5G communication equipment, its low dielectric constant characteristics help reduce signal loss.
New energy: In the coating of lithium battery separators, ethyl silicone oil can form a dense hydrophobic layer, improving the safety and cycle life of the battery; In the encapsulation film of photovoltaic modules, its aging resistance can extend the service life of the modules to more than 25 years.
Market prospects: Explosive demand, accelerated domestic substitution
According to market research institutions' predictions, the global market size of ethyl silicone oil will exceed 5 billion yuan by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 8.5%. Among them, China, as the world's largest manufacturing base, accounts for over 40% of the demand. With the improvement of domestic enterprises' technological strength, the domestic substitution process of ethyl silicone oil is accelerating. The person in charge of a certain enterprise said, "Our products have entered the supply chains of top companies such as Huawei, CRRC, and CATL, and our domestic market share is expected to increase from the current 25% to 40% by 2025


Policy Assistance: Opportunities under the New Materials Strategy
The national "14th Five Year Plan" clearly lists organic silicon materials as a key development area, and many regions have introduced policies to support the research and industrialization of high-end silicon materials such as ethyl silicone oil. For example, Jiangxi Province has established a special fund to provide up to 10 million yuan in funding for key technology research projects related to ethyl silicone oil; Guangdong Province has included ethyl silicone oil in the insurance compensation scope for the first batch of new material applications, reducing the risk of enterprise promotion.


expert opinion
Li Ming, a researcher at the Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out that "ethyl silicone oil is one of the important indicators to measure the technical level of a country's silicone materials. With the breakthrough of domestic enterprises in high-end fields, China is expected to move from a 'big country in silicon materials' to a' big country in silicon materials'."