Polymer, Vol.38, No.13, 3417-3421, 1997
The Effects of Solution Concentration on Network Properties of Thin-Films of Polyorganosiloxanes Cross-Linked in the Solid-State
The stress-strain properties of polyorganosiloxane networks crosslinked in the solid state but cast from trichloroethylene solutions with polymer volume fractions in the range 0.018 to 0.158 were investigated. The polyorganosiloxane studied was polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) containing crosslinkable Si-CH = CH2 and SI-H functional groups. The moduli were found to increase with increasing concentration of the solution from which the network was cast, the same trend that has been previously observed for networks actually crosslinked in solution. These results were explained in terms of the theories of rubber elasticity. The PDMS networks formed from concentrated solution had a relatively higher effective interconnectivity of the network chains and a higher degree of constraints of fluctuations of the network junctions than did the networks formed from more dilute solutions. Since the chemical crosslink density was the same for all the networks, those formed from the more concentrated solutions had a higher number of physical entanglements. These results suggest that the time scale for conformational rearrangement of the rubber is longer than that for solvent evaporation, so that the solution conformation is maintained in the solid state.