Silicone elastomer map: Design the ideal elastomer

Soft, stretchable and light-weight transducers are most sought after for research on advanced applications like stretchable electronics, soft robotics and energy harvesters. Stretchable electronics require elastomers that have high elongation at break, high dielectric permittivity and high breakdown strength. Commercial silicone elastomer formulations often do not encompass all the necessary properties required to function effectively as stretchable transducers but they are used out of familiarity. In this study, most commonly used commercial silicone formulations are formulated with different stoichiometry and also blends of these formulations are made in order to manipulate their resulting properties. The properties of these blends like ultimate stress and strain, Young's modulus, dielectric permittivity and breakdown strength are investigated and mapped to identify those that have the best suited properties for fabricating soft stretchable devices. On a research level, Sylgard 184, Sylgard 186, Ecoflex 00-50, Ecoflex 00-30 and Ecoflex 00-10 are widely used for fabricating such soft devices and hence they will be worked upon in this study. The elastomers obtained using the methods of mixing illustrated here can act as a starting point for conceptualizing the feasibility of a product on research level.