Silicone Defoamer & Silicone antifoam

Home

Silicone Defoaming Systems

A silicone defoamer offers efficient foam control because of its low surface tension, fast spreading ability, and stable performance at low dosage. It quickly weakens the foam film and helps reduce foam formation during mixing, coating, pumping, or other industrial processes.

In resin-modified systems, MQ silicone resin works with silicone oil to improve hydrophobicity, adsorption, and long-lasting foam suppression, making it suitable for coatings, textile auxiliaries, wastewater treatment, and waterproof materials.

XJY-707

Hydride terminated Polydimethylsiloxane

XJY-703

Heptamethyltrisiloxane

XJY-702

Methylhydrosiloxane, Dimethylsiloxane Copolymer

XJY-6010/6011/6012

Methyl MQ Silicone Resin for Defoamer

XJY-6210

MDT Silicone Oil

XJY-6310/6311

Methyl MQ Silicone Resin Liquid Resin

For more information, please contact us.

Methyl MQ Silicone Resin: Stability of Defoaming Systems and the Underlying Mechanisms of Synergistic Effects

1.Molecular Reinforcement

Methyl MQ silicone resin features a unique spherical particle structure, and the silica core formed by its Q units provides exceptional mechanical strength. In defoamer formulations, MQ resin serves not only as an active ingredient but also as the “backbone” of the entire system:

Anchoring effect: The M units (trimethylsiloxy groups) in MQ resin form strong physical entanglements with silicone oil molecules, while the silanol groups remaining on its surface can form hydrogen bonds or chemical cross-links with hydrophobic silica.

Structural Stability: This cross-linking process creates a microscopic elastic network within the silicone oil, effectively preventing the active components from agglomerating or becoming deactivated under high temperatures or high shear forces (such as during pumping or high-speed mixing), thereby ensuring the defoamer’s long-term kinetic stability.

2. Film Resilience

The core of defoaming lies in breaking down the foam liquid film, while the key to foam suppression lies in preventing the film from reforming:

Increasing surface viscoelasticity: After introducing MQ resin, the viscoelasticity of the silicone oil components within the foam liquid film is significantly enhanced. The MQ resin distributes itself at the liquid film interface, increasing the surface tension gradient (Marangoni effect), which gives the film greater toughness when subjected to external impacts, making it less prone to rupture.

Inhibits gas diffusion: The highly cross-linked MQ/silicone oil film forms a dense barrier at the gas-liquid interface, effectively reducing the rate of gas diffusion between bubbles (dissociation reaction). This physically inhibits the coalescence and growth of microbubbles, thereby achieving long-lasting defoaming.

3. Synergistic Spreading

Optimized Penetration Depth: Compared to pure silicone oil, defoaming systems containing MQ resin exhibit a superior spreading coefficient. When defoaming particles come into contact with the bubble membrane, the MQ resin helps the silicone oil spread across the interface at a more uniform rate, forming a “controlled” liquid-displacement zone.

Compatibility with Multiple Systems: This cross-linking system is not limited to aqueous systems; in oil-based systems or complex systems containing large amounts of surfactants (such as textile printing and dyeing, or pesticide spraying), it prevents the defoaming components from being “solubilized” or “emulsified” by the system and becoming ineffective, thereby ensuring its versatility across a wide range of systems.

Product Selection Guide

To meet your specific defoaming needs and budget, we offer the following tailored solutions:

Powerful Foam Suppression Solution

(Focused on Long-Lasting Effectiveness)

Recommended Pure Powder: XJY-6011

Features: A high-purity solid powder with exceptional defoaming properties. It performs exceptionally well in systems requiring long-term foam suppression (such as circulating water treatment and oil drilling).

Recommended compound: XJY-6311

Features: A pre-blended system developed based on 6011, offering a more competitive price. It maintains strong defoaming performance while facilitating dispersion and processing in downstream formulations. The price is even more competitive when calculated based on the active content of MQ silicone resin.

Rapid Defoaming Solution

(Focused on Instant Foam Breaking and High Cost-Effectiveness)

Recommended Pure Powder: XJY-6010 / XJY-6012

Features: Offers a more competitive price compared to 6011. Focuses on rapid foam-breaking performance, making it suitable for scenarios requiring high instant defoaming speed and high cost-effectiveness.

Recommended compound: XJY-6310

Features: A pre-blended system developed based on 6010/6012, offering an even more advantageous price. It is an ideal choice for large-scale industrial defoaming applications.

Applications

Methyl MQ silicone resins are suitable for harsh operating conditions such as high temperatures, high alkalinity, high shear, and high surfactant concentrations, and can be widely used in the following fields:

Textile Printing & Dyeing & Dyeing Auxiliaries:

During the dyeing paste application, soap washing, desizing, and finishing processes, the high surfactant content in the system can lead to persistent foaming. MQ silicone resin significantly enhances the alkali and heat resistance of defoamers, preventing color streaks, defects, and uneven dye absorption caused by foam, while ensuring long-term, continuous production free of foaming issues.

Industrial Cleaning & Metal Cleaning:

For alkaline degreasers, neutral cleaners, and spray cleaning systems, MQ resin prevents defoaming active substances from being emulsified or solubilized and losing effectiveness. It ensures the stable operation of spray lines and high-pressure cleaning equipment, reducing equipment contamination and downtime caused by overflow and foam spills.

Paper Industry & Black Liquor Treatment:

In pulping black liquor, white water circulation, coating, and sizing systems, foam can affect drainage speed, paper uniformity, and drying efficiency. Adding MQ silicone resin builds a tough foam-suppressing film, providing long-lasting foam inhibition in circulating systems and enhancing the operational stability of paper machines.

Agrochemical Formulations & Agricultural Sprays:

Systems such as emulsifiable concentrates, emulsions in water, soluble liquid concentrates, and suspension concentrates often generate large amounts of foam due to surfactants, affecting metering, filling, and spraying performance. MQ silicone resin provides defoamers with excellent compatibility, preserving the formulation system while ensuring smooth, foam-free spraying without splashing.

Petrochemicals & Water Treatment:

Suitable for applications including oilfield drilling fluids, oil-gas separation, industrial circulating water, wastewater treatment, and reverse osmosis. It maintains stable foam suppression even under high-temperature, high-salt, and high-shear environments, preventing issues caused by foam such as gas lock, false liquid levels, and reduced processing efficiency.

Coatings, Inks & Polymer Emulsions:

In the production of water-based coatings, emulsion polymerization, and adhesives, MQ silicone resin enhances the compatibility and longevity of defoamers, reducing the risk of craters and fisheyes. It balances rapid foam breaking with long-term foam suppression, meeting the requirements of the entire process from grinding and mixing to final application.

Formulation Design

MQ silicone resins are typically used in combination with dimethyl silicone oils of varying viscosities, hydrophobic silica, and emulsifier systems:

MQ silicone resin: Provides structural framework, heat resistance, film strength, and long-lasting defoaming properties;

Dimethyl silicone oil: Provides basic spreading, penetration, and rapid defoaming capabilities;

Hydrophobic silica: Further enhances surface activity and synergistically increases defoaming speed.

By combining these three components, the defoaming rate, foam suppression duration, temperature resistance, and system compatibility can be flexibly adjusted, enabling precise customization ranging from “rapid defoaming” to “long-lasting foam suppression.” Stability Advantages: MQ silicone resins are chemically stable, do not interfere with the reaction process of the host system, and effectively reduce the risk of defoaming emulsions separating or forming clumps.

Customization: We can tailor MQ silicone resins with different M/Q ratios and specifications based on the specific system’s pH, temperature, and surfactant type to achieve the perfect balance.

Compliance Certification and Export Support

International certifications: REACH (EU), ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, SA 8000, HALAL, and other certification certificates.
Exportable documents include: COA, MSDS, certificate of origin, animal-free testing, Origin declaration, and vegan certification.
Customized Services: Small-batch trial orders (minimum 1kg), technical guidance on formulations, and personalized product modification services (e.g., particle size customization, modification).

Working Principle of Silicone Defoamer

The active ingredient of silicone defoamer is silicon paste. Hydrophobic silica particles in silicone paste to form a defoaming agent dispersion in silicone oil to help silicone oil enter into the surface of foam film, reduce insertion resistance of silicone oil drops and foam drainage time. Also, it can increase the depth of foam dispersant inserted on the surface of foam film to improve the ability to destroy the oil-water-air film and accelerate the defoaming speed.

The SI-OH bond of methyl MQ silicone resin with heating conditions can react with the residual Si-OH in dimethyl silicone oil and hydrophobic fumed silica to form an organic polymer with a complex polymer chain structure. This polymer can effectively improve the dispersibility of silica, and further enhance the synergistic defoaming and antifoaming performance of silica and dimethyl silicone oil.

Emulsion type organosilicon defoamer uses two methyl silicone oil as the main raw materials, which is a defoamer emulsifier by adding methyl MQ silicone resin and hydrophobic carbon black. It can be widely used in various industries: food, paper, leather, coatings, environmental management and other aspects of chemical production.

Benefit from the following manufacturing advantages

1. Pre-production samples for all orders before production starts

2. Free packaging services

3. Precision manufacturing on branded CNC equipment

4. Experienced engineers to monitor the entire production process

5. Stable after-sales service

6. 24-hour warehousing service and logistics support

7. Wholesale and retail experience

8. Quality control, including raw material incoming inspection, process intermediate product inspection, finished product factory full analysis inspection

9. Invest more than 12% of sales in R&D each year

Applications

Silicone-based defoamers are widely used in many industrial applications to make chemical processing be improved foam control.

1. Food processing

Silicone antifoam or silicone defoamer are widely used in direct or indirect food contact applications throughout all stages of the industrial processes. From large factories and restaurants to home cooking, food packaging and labels, traces of silicone can be found everywhere. Silicone has the advantages of being easy to use, safe operation, no odor, and no impact on food characteristics, making it unparalleled in satisfying the various needs of food processing. They are used in a variety of food and beverage applications to anti-foaming or eliminate existing foam during production.

Foaming issues in food and beverage processing applications can negatively impact efficiency, productivity and cost. Silicone antifoam or defoamers as processing aids are designed to safely and effectively reduce foam problems in a variety of conditions encountered in food and beverage processing. Whether added purely as a liquid or powder or mixed into other compounds or emulsions, silicone antifoams are more effective than organic ones.

1. Food processing: It can effectively defoaming in food processing, and is generally used in the processing of water-soluble food, with stable performance and good defoaming effect.

2. Sugar industry: After the honey is fermented, calcium carbonate needs to be added for neutralization. Foam will be generated during the neutralization process, and a defoamer is needed for defoaming.

3. Fermentation industry: Grape juice will produce gas and foam during the fermentation process, which affects normal fermentation. The defoamer can effectively defoam and ensure the production quality of the wine.

2. Textile and Leather

As a direct user textile printing and dyeing factory, we attach importance to the performance of defoamer, confirm the product quality through trial on the machine, and require defoamer: viscosity should not be too high, easy to use, easy to control addition, economical cost, rapid defoaming and long-lasting inhibition of foam. good dispersion, no oil bleaching, no silicon spots, safe and non-toxic, in line with the requirements of environmental protection.

Printing and dyeing auxiliaries companies, a variety of self-produced auxiliaries products, focus on matching, require defoamers: products thick, easy to dilute and compound, products have a long shelf life, products have a high performance-to-price ratio, solve the compounding with auxiliaries, provide technical support.

Traders of dyeing and chemical materials, most of whom have mature users, require defoamers: products with a high performance-to-price ratio, stable product quality, and provide technical support.

The practice has proved that defoamers for textile printing and dyeing should have: rapid defoaming and long-lasting foam inhibition, high-cost performance; good dispersibility, high-temperature resistance, acid and alkali resistance, electrolyte resistance, shear resistance, good compatibility with various dyeing chemicals, no oil bleaching, no silicon spots; safety, non-toxic, in line with environmental requirements; stable quality, suitable viscosity, and concentration, easy to use and dilute; provide timely and effective technical support.

3. Pulp and paper

As a new type of defoaming aid, active silicone defoamer has been widely valued in the paper industry. Its defoaming principle is that when a very low surface tension defoamer enters the directional bubble film, it destroys the directional bubble film. The mechanical balance can be achieved to achieve foam breaking and foam control.

According to physical properties, silicone antifoam agent can be divided into four categories: silicone oil type; silicone oil solution type; silicone oil mixture type; silicone oil emulsion type. In the paper industry, the commonly used silicone oil type defoamer can be either silicone oil type or silicone oil emulsion type. At present, it is mainly silicone oil emulsion type. When silicone oil is emulsified, it is added to the foaming system. It can quickly reduce the surface tension, so it is easy to be adsorbed on the surface of the foam liquid, and the surface film formed by spreading quickly on the liquid surface, because of its low viscosity and low strength, can cause local surface tension imbalance on the foam, thus The liquid film is thinned to rupture to achieve the purpose of defoaming. For emulsion type defoamer, because of its large hydrophilicity, it can adapt to a wide range of pH values, has no adverse effect on sizing, will not produce stains on the paper surface, and can achieve strong foam breaking with low dosage. and anti-foaming effect.

In the silicone oils mixture type, XJY-8205 MQ silicone resin is mixed with a silica-silicone oil system. MQ resin can improve the applicability of this type of defoamer under high-temperature conditions and ensure the performance of the defoamer in a wider temperature range. It will not weaken, and temperature changes in papermaking, such as high temperature, are also common, so the use of XJY-8205MQ silicone resin is largely effective and can meet your demanding applications.

Product Question

What is the MOQ?

For our existing regular in-stock products, the MOQ starts from 1 piece.

If you would like to customize a product with a specific specification, please contact us to determine the MOQ.

Do you offer a delivery service?

Of course, we are happy to provide our customers with a substitute shipping service.

We also offer a courier service with different prices and delivery times depending on your needs.

Your order will be delivered quickly and safely. Our professional team will also help with any urgent.

What is the sample fee?

Samples up to 1KG are free of charge, and shipping costs are paid on delivery.

For a large amount of sample cost, please contact us to discuss.

What’s the packaging?

Resin powder is usually packed in 25KG cardboard drums.

The liquid is packed in 200KG iron drums.

If you have special requirements, we can negotiate for customization.

What is the lead time for production?

For our existing regular stock products, we usually need 7-15 days, the lead time may be longer for higher quantities, depending on the actual delivery date of the factory.

For custom products, please contact us to determine the exact lead time.

Do you provide warehousing services for my product orders?

We offer a professional 24-hour monitored warehousing service for every customer.

What are your payment terms?

For samples, 100% T/T in advance.

For orders: 50% TT in advance, 50% balance before shipment

For large long-term orders, please contact us to discuss payment terms.

How long does MQ resin last?

We use high-standard raw materials to produce silicone pressure-sensitive adhesive, the product is valid for 12 months from the production date under the original unopened package, and the storage temperature is 25℃ and below. If the storage period is exceeded, the product should be retested and can still be used if it meets the quality requirements.

Request For Quote

Contact to our expert get the best solution for your requirements.