Sycar®-silicone hybrid materials are explored for applications where resistance to harsh environments, immersion in or contact with printing inks and other harsh fluids, is required. The primary application for such products is circuit assembly and protection materials for microelectronic devices such as ink jet printheads. The Sycar®-silicone hybrid technology has been proven effective for circuit protection in MEMS devices where increased reliability in harsh operating environments is required. Platform work showed that Sycar® can be crosslinked with vinyl polydimethylsiloxane through platinum catalyzed hydrosilylation chemistry. The resulting materials are flexible, in a wide range of moduli and adhere well to silicon, metals and engineering substrates. Furthermore, properties are retained when the materials are immersed in corrosive fluids such as inks. These hybrids have an advantage over conventionally crosslinked silicones, which have limited chemical resistance. It has been demonstrated that silicones can be used in small quantities to toughen fully crosslinked Sycar®, which is otherwise brittle. These hybrids are approaching epoxies for mechanical properties but maintain many desirable properties of silicones. From this platform work, three product types have been identified, based on Sycar®-polysiloxane. They are: hybrid gels, tough rigid elastomers, and high hardness, abrasion resistant materials which are unique to the silicone product family.
Susan Krawiec, Elizabeth Walker, Robert Palmer, Chih-Min Cheng, Kate Pearce, "Novel Silicone Sycar® Hybrid Adhesives for Harsh Fluid Resistance" in Proc. IS&T Int'l Conf. on Digital Printing Technologies (NIP21), 2005, pp 178 - 180, https://doi.org/10.2352/ISSN.2169-4451.2005.21.1.art00050_1