Abstract
Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is a silicon-based elastomer. In recent years, PDMS has also been used as a casting mold for micro- or nano-contact printing. The mechanical properties of PDMS are so soft and flexible that molds of PDMS affected by gravity produce defects while transforming patterns. To strengthen the mold, it is important to improve the mechanical properties of this material. Many polymers have been added with nanoparticles to improve their properties. Based on the reasons mentioned above, multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWNT) were mixed with PDMS in this research.The aim of this thesis focus on investigating the influence of MWNT on the tensile mechanical and viscoelastic properties of MWNT/PDMS membranes, which included initial modulus, stress at break, strain at break, storage modulus and creep rate…etc. Tensile test show that the initial modulus of MWNT/PDMS increases with MWNT content, but both the stress and strain at break decrease. The results of continuous dynamic mechanical analysis indicate that the storage modulus of the resulting specimens was dramatically enhanced, and the storage modulus was significantly improve 55％, when MWNT content is 1wt％. The result from tensile creep test shows the creep of MWNT/PDMS was decreased by comparing to that of pure PDMS on evaluated temperature conditions at different stress levels. Due to MWNT formed a dense MWNT-network contributed greatly to slow down the creep rate.