In short: Make the paste with the candidate silica in place of the incumbent at the same level, in your own formulation, and follow three things over four weeks: viscosity, stand-up of the ribbon, and separation in the tube. Judge cleaning on a standard brush-abrasion rig rather than by feel. Sensilchem starts oral-care trials with CENSIL 310, with CENSIL 320 and the fine powder CENSIL 150 beside it.
Order of addition, vacuum, mixing time and temperature all affect structure. Write the procedure down and use it for every candidate; a paste that differs in process cannot be compared on silica.
Read viscosity the next day, not straight from the mixer, and again after one and four weeks. Silica-built structure changes for the first day or two and the settled reading is the meaningful one.
Squeeze a ribbon from the tube onto a glass slide and photograph it edge-on. A ribbon that holds its shape has enough structure; one that slumps or strings has too little or the wrong kind.
Store filled tubes warm and cut one open each week. Clear liquid at the nozzle end or a dry rim at the seal end is syneresis, and it shows up in accelerated storage before it shows up in the market.
If the trial includes cleaning, use a standardised brushing rig with stained substrates so that the comparison is repeatable. Feel on the finger tells you about grit, not about cleaning.
For a translucent or gel paste, make one batch with the fine powder grade and hold it against the others in a clear tube. Appearance is decided by the customer's eye, so give them something to look at.
The same level as the incumbent, so that the silica is the only variable. Optimising the level comes after the grade has been chosen, not during the comparison.
The documentation set and the destination-market position are confirmed per enquiry. Tell us the country and we will state what can be supplied before samples ship.
The material you use now, the formulation or resin, the equipment and the target you need to hit. That is enough for us to say whether we have something worth testing.
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