POLY(SILOXANE) NETWORK OF ULTRA-HIGH ELONGATION

A poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) elastomer with the remarkable ultimate elongation (lambda(max) ca, 30, epsilon(B) ca. 2900 %) was prepared b y crosslinking long precursor PDMS chains in solution with a low PDMS concentration via end groups and then removing the solvent from the re sulting PDMS gels (deswelling), The first step lessens the amount of t rapped entanglement which is an origin for fracture, and the second re duces the end-to-end distance of network chains in the undeformed stat e by utilizing large volume decrease accompanying deswelling.