cured silicone vs. acetone

[suthrnmn]

will acetone degrade silicone that has completely cured? the exposure period would be the time it takes the acetone to evaporate....say 15-30 mins. thanks.

[bertoni]

That doesn't sounds like a good idea to me. The acetone will react with the silicone. I don't know much about the two chemicals, though. Perhaps someone with some experience can respond.

[suthrnmn]

.....the "contact" between the two was accidental. So, my concern is should the tank be resealed.

[bertoni]

Does the seal show any signs of distortion or change from the contact?

[suthrnmn]

no, there are no outward signs or damage, however, I was hoping Randy / a chemist would "know" or have some idea as to the potential effects. thanks.

[bertoni]

Randy likely would know, but I'm not a chemist. I'd be reluctant to trust the tank without consulting someone.

[psteeleb]

I've used acetone to clean silicone from glass in order to then reseal it.

I'm not so sure it broke down the silicone but it sure makes it unstick from the glass. I'd check to see if the edges are peeling up.

[spamin76]

If it was a trace exposure I would say it is fine, if it were more lengthy and a lot of acetone was involved you might be a bit worried.

Acetone is not particularly powerful stuff unless you get a pretty respectable amount of it. Most likely you only got a bit of surface exposure. I work with it all the time, and have been blasted in the face once or twice due to pressure building up in a carbuoy due to some head space and a naturally volatile compound.

Acetone is pretty volatile and will evaporate really quickly so if you just splashed a little on, not a big deal. If you actually let it soak it might have actually had time to do something.

I don't know the curing of the silicone process or the precise chemistry, but unless it actually worked between the glass and silicone through capilary action(something a small amount would not be able to significantly do) it couldn't do that much. But again if it was soaking in it, it might be able to solubulize something.