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Alkoxysilanes, particularly ethoxysilanes, are widely used crosslinkers for the moisture induced, room temperature vulcanization of silicones. Karstedt's platinum catalyst is shown to be effective at converting commercially available small hydrosiloxanes containing 1-8 SiH groups, and higher molecular weight telechelic and pendant hydrosiloxane polymers, into the corresponding alkoxycompounds. Kinetic studies demonstrated that relatively high concentrations of platinum -500 ppm -were required for practical reaction rates to be realized. As with other silyl ether forming processes, steric hindrance at both carbon (alcohol) and silicon center retard reaction progress.

The long-term stability of condensation curing silicone elastomers can be affected by many factors such as curing environment, cross-linker type and concentration, and catalyst concentration. Mechanically unstable silicone elastomers may lead to undesirable application failure or reduced lifetime. This study investigates the stability of different condensation curing silicone elastomer compositions. Elastomers are prepared via the reaction of telechelic silanol-terminated polydimethylsiloxane (HO-PDMS-OH) with trimethoxysilane-terminated polysiloxane ((MeO)3Si-PDMS-Si(OMe)3) and ethoxy-terminated octakis(dimethylsiloxy)-T8-silsesquioxane ((QMOEt)8), respectively. Two post-curing reactions are found to significantly affect both the stability of mechanical properties over time and final properties of the resulting elastomers: Namely, the condensation of dangling and/or unreacted polymer chains, and the reaction between cross-linker molecules. Findings from the stability study are then used to prepare reliable silicone elastomer coatings. Coating properties are tailored by varying the cross-linker molecular weight, type, and concentration. Finally, it is shown that, by proper choice of all three parameters, a coating with excellent scratch resistance and electrical breakdown strength can be produced even without an addition of fillers.

This study presents a new method to produce fluorescent particles. Established methods are based on the incorporation of conjugated dye molecules into dielectric polymer matrices or preparation of colloids, which are composed of fluorescent conjugated polymer. By contrast, this study presents a method where dielectric polyacrylonitrile is exposed to microwave radiation leading to an intramolecular cyclization reaction producing π-conjugated segments, which fluoresce blue. During this conversion, the particles shrink in diameter but as an ensemble they retain their monodispersity. This work investigates the optimal reaction conditions and characterizes the optical properties.