The mechanical properties of the rubber elastic polymer polydimethylsiloxane for sensor applications

Abstract

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is a commercially available physically and chemically stable silicone rubber. It has a unique flexibility with a shear elastic modulus G ≈ 250 kPa due to one of the lowest glass transition temperatures of any polymer (T g ≈ −125 • C). Further properties of PDMS are a low change in the shear elastic modulus versus temperature (1.1 kPa • C −1), virtually no change in G versus frequency and a high compressibility. Because of its clean room processability, its low curing temperature, its high flexibility, the possibility to change its functional groups and the very low drift of its properties with time and temperature, PDMS is very well suited for micromachined mechanical and chemical sensors, such as accelerometers (as the spring material) and ISFETs (as the ion selective membrane). It can also be used as an adhesive in wafer bonding, as a cover material in tactile sensors and as the mechanical decoupling zone in sensor packagings.

Static response of deformable microchannels: a comparative modelling study

“…Lab-on-a-chip devices are typically manufactured from poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) or similar polymeric materials, which means that the microchannels in the devices are compliant [15,16]. Since at least the work by Gervais et al [9], it has been understood that the flow-induced deformation of microchannels can be significant.…”

Three-dimensional nanonetworks for giant stretchability in dielectrics and conductors

“…S9 ). Elastomers typically have high fl exibility and stretchability when cured at low temperatures 22 . Th e 3D PDMS cured at room temperature shows maximum stretchability of ~ 225 % , which corresponds to the highest value reported for PDMS ( Supplementary Movie S1 for the stretching test of solid PDMS and solid PDMS).…”

High Performance Digital Volume Correlation

“…The origin is at the center of the sphere. We selected ν = 0.49, E = 870 KPa, and T = 30 KPa, as being typical for the PDMS used here [47] in order to have realistic displacement values for realistic load levels, although in this computational analysis the particular properties are not significant.…”