Formulation Prediction for Young's Modulus of Poly(dimethylsiloxane) by Spectroscopic Methods

Abstract

In this work, we refer to the fraction of hydrides and vinyl groups consumed in cross‐linking reaction as a variation of the properties of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) with varying the formulation of a curing agent from 3.2 wt % to 50 wt %. Young's modulus, density, and refractive indices of PDMS were observed to have a maxima at a formulation of about 10 wt % of cross linker. The intensity of the Raman band for the SiH stretching mode in cross‐linker is almost zero if the cross‐linking agent is less than 10 wt %, but it is linearly increasing with increasing the content of cross‐linker. The dependence of the elastic modulus on the formulation could be explained in terms of the fraction of cross‐linked network. The analytical framework proposed in this work could be used for optimizing the formulation of PDMS and hence its properties can be tailored for specific applications.