Crosslink network and phenyl content on the optical, hardness, and thermal aging of PDMS LED encapsulant

This work aims to synthesize new series of polysiloxane copolymer through hydrosilylation reaction based on different level of crosslink densities and phenyl content. The results revealed that polysiloxanes resins with phenyl rings increased viscosity up to 3800 cps while displaying a relatively high refractive index of 1.531. The asymmetric phenyl substitution onto chain backbone led to formation of densely packed structure resulting in reduced water absorption and gas permeability of PDMS resins. High level of crosslinking contributed to a high shore A hardness and adhesion strength. It displayed transparency of 97% whose percentage reduction was 1.6% under thermal and 0.6% UV aging. No obvious discoloration was observed during accelerated thermal aging up to 210 min at 80 °C. These results are key attributes that make the synthesized polysiloxane series as ideal candidate for high brightness LED encapsulant.