Telfon and silicone are both popular non-stick materials used within the commercial cooking industry for coating baking trays, pans and other cookware worldwide. While both of these coatings are used for the same purpose – to stop baked goods and other adhesive substances from sticking to the surface of metal cookware – there are some significant differences between the two. Read on to discover which finish is best for your cookware. 

What is silicone glaze?

Silicone glaze is a rubberised coating made from silicone, applied to the surface or insides of pans and baking trays to increase their non-stick properties. Silicone glaze is typically clear in colour.

What is Teflon?

Fluoropolymer coatings, more commonly known by their brand name Teflon, are synthetic coatings with a unique chemistry preventing hot or cold materials from bonding to the surface of the finished products. There are different varieties of Teflon (including PTFE and PFA) to suit different job requirements. Teflon coatings can come in a range of colours including black, grey, chrome, and even red, blue and green. 

Longevity

Silicone glaze typically lasts for around 250-300 releases (baking cycles). This means they last for around a month before they will begin to wear away, exposing the metal underneath, and require recoating. 

Used properly, Teflon coatings can last for more than 3000 releases – or a year of baking before the coating wears off and needs replacing. This means that pans and baking trays will need recoating less frequently, saving significantly on costs and oven down time.  

While both coatings can wear off if proper care is not taken (or sharp utensils are used), silicone glaze is also more likely to flake off, and burnt particles are found in baked goods more frequently than pieces of Teflon. Tough 2-coat or 3-coat Teflon systems can also reduce the risk of flaking off even further.

Non-stick properties

Although both coatings have good non-stick properties, silicone glazes often require further use of oil or grease to help baked goods slide in and out of trays without leaving residue behind. Fluropolymer/Teflon coatings do not require extra oil – their unique ingrained non-stick properties reduce friction and allow loaves, cakes, pies and more to slide out of trays with ease. 

Ease of Recoating

Before trays can be recoated, the old coating must be blasted off and the surface of the pan or tray underneath must be cleaned. Typically, this is done in an abrasive blasting chamber. Unlike Teflon, silicone particles often mix with the abrasives used to complete this process, contaminating them. This means these abrasives are unable to be used in subsequent blasting jobs, or particles of silicone will end up on the surface of other metal parts, making the cleaning and deburring process less effective. If this occurs, other pans in your batch, or in future batches, might be contaminated if put through the same blasting chamber with the same abrasives.

Teflon coating therefore saves on resources, as the abrasives can be reused for longer. 

Find out more

DECO Surface Finishing offers a variety of PTFE and PFA Teflon coatings to suit your project needs. For quality Dupont/Chemours-brand, FDA approved non-stick coatings applied in a quality-controlled facility, look no further than DECO. 

Find out more about our Teflon coating services here.

Read more:

Five Teflon Uses for your Commercial Kitchen

Myths About Teflon Debunked