Hi All,
Recently (10th of january) I replied to a question about a supplier of
photocurable PDMS. I told then that
such a compound is RMS-033 from ABCR chemie in Karlsruhe (Germany). I
got a mail from Jordan Berg
who suggested that this compound is not photocurable.
I realize now that I made a mistake and because maybe other people are
interested in photocurable PDMS
and are unable to find this at the ABCR website (because they don't sell
it) I have written the method to make
the RMS-033 photocurable.
The PDMS is made photosensitive by adding a UV sensitive photoinitiator.
The compound that we have used
for this is 2,2-dimethoxy- 2-phenylacetophenone. This compound can be
ordered easily from ACROS or any
other big chemicals supplier. We dissolve the DMPAP in a bit of xylenes
and then we dissolve this solution in
the PDMS. The composition is like this: RMS-033: 10g
DMPAP:
200mg
xylenes: 400mg
I think that it is possible to make a lot of PDMS types photosensitive
by adding the photoinitiator. I myself have
tested the method with Sylgard 184 (Dow Corning) and it works. The
exposure time was very long though compared
to the RMS-033 mixture.
The RMS033 is used in our group because it has a high elasticity. We use
PDMS bump as mechanical springs in an accelerometer. If you don't need
high elasticity you can use other PDMS compounds.
If you have questions then ask me.
Kind Regards,
Heiko van der Linden