Low modulus silicone - shelflife?

[RogerS]

I use this to stop glass rattling inside the doors of a display cabinet. Usually just put some small dots around the perimeter of the rebate, drop the glass on top then secure with beads.

As it happens, ran out of time to fit the beads last night but when I got back into the workshop this morning, discovered that the two panes I'd fitted last night had fallen out. On a few dots, the adhesion to the glass hasn't worked but on many of them, the silicone seems to have failed as there is silicone sticking well to the wood rebate and also to the glass. Not a big issue, nothing broken and I'll get some new silicone but that did get me wondering.

Does this stuff have a shelflife and if so how long? Nothing to indicate 'Use By' date on the tube.

Or is there another explanation?

 

[nev]

'greasy' glass maybe?

 

[AndyT]

It definitely does have a limited shelf life - but as far as I know you can tell it's too old when it's all gone solid in the tube and you can't get any out!

 

[RogerS]

'greasy' glass maybe?

I wondered if it was but most places there is silicone on the glass and also on the wood..so it sort of didn't cure properly and split, as it were.

 

[DIY Stew]

Roger

You could also use felt to stop the glass rattling.

Stew

 

[Hitch]

All the tubes of sealants I have used recently have had a date of manufacture printed on them.
Shelf life probably mentioned on the MSDS.....?

 

[Doug B]

Personally Rog I would have used high modulus for this application, or proper glazing silicone.

 

[RogerS]

Personally Rog I would have used high modulus for this application, or proper glazing silicone.

My bad...it is proper glazing silicon...at least that's what my glazing supplier said it was! :lol:

 

[Lons]

I use a hell of a lot of silicone of all varieties but some of it sits on the shelf for years. never had it fail or not cure and as Andy says, it's ptetty obvious when it's unusable as it won''t come out of the tube. It can however appear "lumpy" as it's past its best and should be binned.

Happened to me today co-incidently as I was fixing a new checkerplate floor to the trailer and using up old silicone, one was solid, rest were ok. Now have a mix of white, black and clear showing around the joints. :lol:

Yours sounds possibly contaminated to me!

Bob

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I always try to keep any nozzles with screw top ends, then if I'm going to use a small part of a tube I see if I've one of them that fits - all silicones and adhesives last longer with screw tops.