Degradative Thermal Analysis of Engineering Silicones

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA 

Keywords Polymer degradation, thermal analysis, engineering silicones, pyrolysis 

1 Thermal Stability and Degradation Behavior of Silicone Elastomers 

While the basic chemistry and physical behavior of linear polysiloxane polymers is well studied and, generally speaking, well understood, simple unmodified polysiloxanes are rarely encountered in real world applications. The majority of commercial silicone products are complex multicomponent formulations which take the form of elastomeric rubbers, adhesives, sealants, coatings, fluids or gels. Silicone elastomers are chemically crosslinked networks of linear polysiloxanes which exhibit poor mechanical properties in their native, unmodified state [1]. In order to obtain the desired combinations of mechanical, physical and chemical properties for a specific application, commercial high-performance silicone elastomers 

Atul Tiwari and Mark D. Soucek (eds.) Concise Encyclopedia of High Performance Silicones, (191-210) 2014 Scrivener Publishing LLC 

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