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

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.