Thermochromic transition analysis of elastomer prepared from azo dye-siloxane blend

Abstract

In the search for portable thermochromic material, this work presented a simple preparation of a thermochromic elastomer using a commercialized dye indicator. The material was prepared using polydimethylsiloxane as a polymer matrix and methyl red as a thermochromic dye via room-temperature vulcanization of spin-coated glass slides. A sample was heated at 10 °C interval and was shown to have a reversible visual thermochromic behavior (orange ↔ yellow). The presence of saturated iodine to the system improved the thermochromic behavior (gray ↔ olive green ↔ yellow) at ≈50 °C and ≈80 °C. Furthermore, this work used graphical and L*a*b* analysis in aiming to correct the imperfection of the naked eye in defining colors.