Crosslinking effect on polydimethylsiloxane elastic modulus measured by custom‐built compression instrument

ABSTRACT A macroscopic compression test utilizing a simple custom‐built instrument was employed to measure polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastic modulus. PDMS samples with varying crosslinking density were prepared with the elastomer base to the curing agent ratio ranging from 5 : 1 to 33 : 1. The PDMS network elastic modulus varied linearly with the amount of crosslinker, ranging from 0.57 MPa to 3.7 MPa for the samples tested. PDMS elastic modulus in MPa can be expressed as 20 MPa/PDMS base to curing agent ratio. This article describes a simple method for measuring elastic properties of soft polymeric materials. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131 , 41050.