At the International Elastomers Conference
At the International Elastomers Conference, Featuring the International Rubber Expo, 194th Technical Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Rubber Division, and Educational Symposium, in Louisville, Kentucky, on October 9-11, 2018, Mr. Brian Thornburg, Director of Product Development for Jamak Fabrication, presented the technical paper, “Novel Means to Improving Low Temperature Mechanical Properties in a Silicone Elastomer”. This Presentation outlined how the sharply rising cost of the high molecular weight phenyl silicone gum (a.k.a. PVMQ or vinyl terminated poly dimethyl methylvinyl phenylmethyl siloxane) was combated by making a lower cost offset to PVMQ gum in-house by creating a copolymer of low molecular weight, highly concentrated phenyl silicone fluid (a.k.a. vinyl-terminated poly dimethyl diphenyl siloxane) and high molecular weight vinyl silicone gum (a.k.a. VMQ or vinyl-terminated poly dimethyl methylvinyl siloxane). The extreme low temperature, extrusion-grade compound formulated using this copolymer formed by novel means outperformed similar existing compounds utilizing traditional PVMQ gum overall with exceptional improvement to compression set. A production-scale trial is planned to verify results, confirm process ability, and commercialize the material.