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In the second quarter of 2026, another key progress has been made in the segmented field of domestic polyether silicone oil: a special pilot industrialization unit focusing on high-hydrophilic high HLB value polyether silicone oil officially completed 6480 hours of continuous stable operation. The series of products produced cover the HLB value range of 12-18, and can be miscible with water in any proportion at 25℃ to form a completely transparent homogeneous aqueous solution without adding additional emulsifiers. The green fluorine-free textile additives prepared with this product have an 85% improvement in the hydrophilic and moisture-conducting properties of fabrics, and also have excellent anti-static and easy-to-decontaminate effects. All core performance indicators have reached the international leading level. This achievement fills the domestic technical blank of high HLB value polyether silicone oil, and provides fully independent and controllable core material support for China's textile industry to completely phase out traditional fluorine-containing additives and realize green low-carbon upgrading.
High HLB value polyether silicone oil is a high-end segmented category in the field of polyether modified polydimethylsiloxane. Different from ordinary low HLB value polyether silicone oil, the proportion of ethylene oxide (EO) in its polyether segments exceeds 60%, and the hydrophilic property of the molecule is much greater than the lipophilic property. It can be completely dissolved in water to form a transparent solution, completely eliminating the small-molecule emulsifiers added in the traditional emulsification process, and fundamentally avoiding problems such as fabric yellowing and skin irritation caused by small-molecule additive residues. In the modern textile industry, although traditional fluorine-containing hydrophilic finishing agents can endow fabrics with excellent moisture-conducting properties, fluorine-containing compounds are difficult to biodegrade naturally, forming persistent organic pollutants in the environment, and long-term contact may also cause potential impacts on human health. Many countries around the world have successively introduced policies to restrict the use of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the textile field. The green fluorine-free textile additives prepared from high HLB value polyether silicone oil contain no fluorine elements in their molecular structure, and can be 100% completely biodegraded in the natural environment. At the same time, they can form a special hydrophilic flexible layer on the fiber surface, which not only retains the hydrophilic and moisture-conducting ability of polyether segments, but also exerts the lubricating and softening characteristics of siloxane segments, making the fabric have multiple functions such as soft touch, rapid moisture conduction, anti-static and easy decontamination. It is an ideal green material to replace traditional fluorine-containing textile additives. In addition, high HLB value polyether silicone oil also has broad application prospects in the fields of agricultural pesticide additives, water treatment flocculants, and daily transparent cleaning products, which can greatly improve the spreading and adhesion rate of pesticides on plant leaves, reduce pesticide usage, and promote green agricultural production.
Previously, the R&D and industrialization of domestic high HLB value polyether silicone oil has long been in a blank state, and the core technical difficulties are concentrated in two directions: uniform grafting of high EO ratio polyether chains and emulsifier-free dissolution. In the traditional synthesis process of polyether silicone oil, when the EO ratio of polyether segments exceeds 60%, the hydrophilic polyether and hydrophobic siloxane chains will have serious incompatibility problems, which easily leads to phase separation during the reaction process, and the final product will have a large number of white flocculent precipitates, completely failing to realize arbitrary miscibility with water. The HLB value of related products developed in the early stage in China can only reach a maximum of 11, and more than 30% of small-molecule emulsifiers must be added to form an aqueous solution, which not only cannot form a completely transparent homogeneous system, but also causes yellowing problems after fabric finishing, completely failing to meet the requirements of high-end green textile products. For a long time, this type of product has been completely dependent on overseas imports. The purchase price is more than 12 times that of ordinary medium and low-end polyether silicone oil, and overseas manufacturers have set strict quota restrictions on large-order procurement by domestic textile enterprises, which has seriously restricted the green fluorine-free upgrading process of China's textile industry.
The industrialization technology system of high HLB value polyether silicone oil that has achieved stable mass production this time has corely overcome two world-class industry problems. First, the phase transfer coupled graft polymerization technology was pioneered. The R&D team independently developed a new type of amphiphilic phase transfer catalyst, which makes the hydrophilic high EO ratio polyether and hydrophobic siloxane monomers completely homogeneously mixed in the reaction system, completely avoiding the phase separation problem during the reaction process. The grafting uniformity of high EO polyether chains reaches 99.2%, which ensures the high hydrophilic property of the product from the molecular level. Second, an HLB value precise regulation platform was innovatively established. By adjusting the feed ratio of polyether chains with different EO/PO ratios in real time, the continuous and precise adjustment of the product's HLB value in the range of 12-18 is realized. The final product can be miscible with water in any proportion at 25℃ without adding any emulsifier to form a completely transparent homogeneous solution. After 12 months of normal temperature storage, there is no delamination or precipitation, and the stability far exceeds the requirements of industry standards.
At present, this independently developed high HLB value polyether silicone oil has completed continuous production line application verification for more than 28 months in many leading domestic textile enterprises. In the finishing process of sports functional fabrics, the polyester fabric treated with the fluorine-free additive prepared from this product has a water droplet diffusion time of less than 1 second. After 50 times of washing, the moisture-conducting performance retention rate is still more than 92%, and the surface resistance of the fabric is lower than 10^8Ω, which completely eliminates the static electricity problem of chemical fiber fabrics. In the finishing process of infant close-fitting clothing, the treated cotton fabric has no small-molecule additive residue. After testing according to the national Class A infant textile safety standard, all indicators meet the requirements, and the softness of the fabric far exceeds the effect of traditional additive treatment. In the agricultural pesticide additive test, the pesticide solution added with 0.1% of this product has a 2.3 times increase in the spreading area on plant leaves, and the effective utilization rate of pesticides is increased by 47%, which can greatly reduce pesticide usage and reduce agricultural non-point source pollution.
With the gradual maturity of this technology and the subsequent implementation of the 10,000-ton special production line, it is expected that by 2029, China will form a full-spectrum polyether silicone oil product system covering the full viscosity range of 70-200cP and the full HLB value range of 3-18. It will not only fully meet the green upgrading needs of the textile industry to completely phase out fluorine-containing additives, but also further expand to emerging fields such as intelligent temperature control fluids and green agricultural additives, providing key material support for the green low-carbon transformation of multiple downstream industries in China.
