Mechanial properties of bimodal polysiloxane elastomers, particularly some prepared using unusually short chains

POLY 338

J. E. Mark and B. Viers. Department of Chemistry, Polymer Research Center, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221
Bimodal elastomers were prepared from functionally-terminated poly(dimethylsiloxane), using mixtures of very long chains with some nearly monodisperse chains that were significantly shorter than those previously used in such networks. The Mooney-Rivlin stress-strain plots of these elastomers in elongation generally showed three regimes. In the first, the modulus was abnormally large, possibly due to some deformations of the numerous very short chains. In the second regime, the elastomers acted like network with high-functionality cross links (possibly due to clustering of junctions). In the third, the modulus shows large upturns resulting from the limited chain extensibilities of the very short chains. Some swelling and birefringence data correspond most closely to Regime II behavior. Some aspects of the rubber elasticity results are similar to network properties sometimes attributed to entanglements. Birefringence measurements indicate that there are Gaussian and non-Gaussian aspects of these elastomers.