Interfacial properties, polysiloxanes

Surface and Interfacial Properties. The polysiloxanes generally have very low surface energies (48,49), and considerable research is underway to measure and control surface and interfacial properties in general. For example, adding fluorine atoms to the side chains on a polysiloxane backbone should have a marked effect in this regard (50). 

Functionalized polysiloxanes are attractive because, with only small modification of the polysiloxane properties (e.g. density, yield strength, etc.), they allow reduction in the interfacial tension thanks to better interactions with the other homopolymer. Two studies involving PB/PDMS and polyisoprene (PIP)/PDMS are of particular interest [19,20]. The PDMS end groups were either amine (-NH2) or acid (-COOH). It was first observed that the PB/PDMS-NH2 system exhibits a 30% reduction in interfacial tension compared to the equivalent PB/PDMS system. A preliminary reduction... 

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