POLYDIMETHYLSILOXANE AS AN ELASTIC-MATERIAL APPLIED IN A CAPACITIVE ACCELEROMETER

Polydimethylsiloxane is a silicone rubber. It has a unique flexibility , resulting in one of the lowest glass-transition temperatures of any polymer. Furthermore, it shows a low elasticity change versus temperat ure, a high thermal stability, chemical inertness, dielectric stabilit y, shear stability and high compressibility. Because of its high flexi bility and the very low drift of its properties with time and temperat ure, polydimethylsiloxane could be well suited for mechanical sensors, such as accelerometers. A novel capacitive accelerometer with polydim ethylsiloxane layers as springs has been realized. The obtained measur ement results are promising and show a good correspondence with the th eoretical values.