Reliable Condensation Curing Silicone Elastomers with Tailorable Properties.

The long-term stability of condensation curing silicone elastomers can be affected by many factors such as curing environment, cross-linker type and concentration, and catalyst concentration. Mechanically unstable silicone elastomers may lead to undesirable application failure or reduced lifetime. This study investigates the stability of different condensation curing silicone elastomer compositions.

Deep-Blue Fluorescent Particles via Microwave Heating of Polyacrylonitrile Dispersions.

This study presents a new method to produce fluorescent particles. Established methods are based on the incorporation of conjugated dye molecules into dielectric polymer matrices or preparation of colloids, which are composed of fluorescent conjugated polymer. By contrast, this study presents a method where dielectric polyacrylonitrile is exposed to microwave radiation leading to an intramolecular cyclization reaction producing π-conjugated segments, which fluoresce blue.