Insight into the thermal degradation behaviour and products of commercial cross-linked PDMS

Elisa Ogliani, Liyun Yu, Søren Hvilsted, Anne Ladegaard Skov*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to conferenceConference abstract for conferenceResearchpeer-review

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Abstract

Silicone elastomers are employed in many different fields from biomedicine to electronics due to a plethora of unique features. In particular, the thermal stability is fundamental with respect to the reliability and the performance of silicone-based devices. This remarkable resistance upon high temperatures is due to the inherent strength of the siloxane bond, the considerable flexibility of the backbone, and the entropically higher stability of the cyclic degradation products compared to the linear original chain [1]. Keeping in mind the vast majority of work done so far on the degradation of silicones [2,3], the goal of this study is to achieve a deeper insight into the thermal degradation mechanism of commercial silicone elastomers with the main aim of translating it into the complex, coupled thermal and electrical breakdown processes that dielectric elastomers undergo. A systematic analysis of the thermal behavior was carried out using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) on the pure poly(dimethyl siloxane) network with different crosslinking ratios performed in either inert atmosphere (pure thermal degradation) or air (thermo-oxidative degradation). Extraction of the samples in heptane was exploited in order to remove the non-bonded PDMS chains and determine to which extent the thermal degradation is influenced compared to the pristine elastomers. The core of the work was the accurate recovery and characterization of the volatile and non-volatile degradation products of the thermally treated elastomers, aiming at the elucidation of the mechanism and the extent of degradation through the combination of different techniques such as size exclusion chromatography and infrared spectroscopy.
Original languageEnglish
Publication date2017
Number of pages1
Publication statusPublished - 2017
Event11th International Workshop on Silicone Polymers 2017 (ISPO 2017) - Snekkersten, Denmark
Duration: 2 Jul 20176 Jul 2017

Conference

Conference11th International Workshop on Silicone Polymers 2017 (ISPO 2017)
Country/TerritoryDenmark
CitySnekkersten
Period02/07/201706/07/2017

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