Dow Corning Corporation’s Light Management Group is offering LED-protecting silicone materials for brighter, longer-lasting light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Targets for the materials include automotive interior and exterior lighting. EG-6301, OE-6336 and JCR 6175 are LED-protecting encapsulants, and SR-7010 is a moldable resin for use in hard discrete lenses and other components for LED applications. Each material enables surface-mount assembly of LED devices using lead-free solder.

"As new designs call for brighter, hotter and longer-lasting LEDs, and manufacturers adopt high-temperature lead-free assembly processes, we're seeing more companies (use) silicone in applications where epoxies or cyclo olefin copolymers were once the materials of choice," said Tom Cook, Dow Corning’s global industry executive director. He said that silicones offer exceptional reliability in LED manufacturing due to their initial high light transmittance, and silicones retain optical clarity because the materials resist the effects of high temperatures and short-wavelength exposures. Silicones can also be formulated to adhere to a variety of substrates.