Most high-performance silicone release coatings use a platinum catalyst to crosslink. It’s reliable, fast, and efficient — until it isn’t.
Ever had a roll with:
• Incomplete cure; maybe even good migration, but high extractables
• Sticky or inconsistent release
• causing Adhesive contamination
• having Rub-off issues after some days?
💥 That might be platinum poisoning.
Common culprits include:
❌ Anti-static additives in PET
❌ Surfactants in coatings
❌ UV stabilizers in films
❌ Migrating oils in recycled substrates
❌ Water in Solvents
❌ Amines, Sulfites and so on
These substances deactivate (stsabilize) the platinum catalyst complex, preventing full crosslinking. What looks like a normal liner at first could becomes a ticking time bomb under your customers adhesive, since migration does not have to go thru your full coating thickness.
Or the Moon, yes the bright Moon in the sky, you might ask yourself, why this could be. It simple, hard to find and …. logical. The Moon creates a tidal wave, which travel on water and UNDERGROUND, raising also underground water levels. This can cause Nitrogen fertilizers to be washed out of the soil, being flushed into a river and then drawn into a paper mill, where it is not expected and therfore not taken care off. The fertilizer will become part of the paper and can inhibit your cure, every 4 weeks …. or so.
I’ve helped customers troubleshoot this on 3 continents. Sometimes we reformulated. Sometimes we added barrier primers. Sometimes we switched to UV-curing entirely. And often we scratched our heads.
What worked best? Deep system thinking:
Substrate → Surface prep → Silicone → Cure → Storage → Application
If any step introduces poison, the chain breaks. Know your materials. Know your process. And never ignore the invisible.
🧪 Have you ever discovered platinum inhibition in your process — and how did you trace it?