BACKGROUND Colour degradation is a major problem in maxillofacial silicone elastomers. Recent studies have focused on colour stability and the mechanical properties of the silicone elastomers. A colour match is also essential for the acceptance of the prosthesis by the patient. The aim of this study is to assess the colour degradation of the silicone elastomer after being moulded in different c...

A thin sheet of nematic elastomer attains 3D configurations depending on the nematic director field upon heating. In this Letter, we describe the intrinsic geometry of such a sheet and derive an expression for the metric induced by general nematic director fields. Furthermore, we investigate the reverse problem of constructing a director field that induces a specified 2D geometry. We provide an...

Models of smectic-C liquid-crystal elastomers predict that they can display soft elasticity, in which the shape of the elastomer changes at no energy cost. The amplitude of the soft mode and the accompanying shears are dependent on the orientation of the layer normal and the director with respect to the stretch axis. We demonstrate that in some geometries the director is forced to rotate perpen...

The application of a sufficiently strong strain perpendicular to the pitch axis of a monodomain cholesteric elastomer unwinds the cholesteric helix. Previous theoretical analyses of this transition ignored the effects of Frank elasticity which we include here. We find that the strain needed to unwind the helix is reduced because of the Frank penalty and the cholesteric state becomes metastable ...

a series of ethylene-propylene-2-ethylidenebicyclo [2.2.1] hept.5-ene terpolymers (epdm) have been prepared using a vocl3/al2et3cl3 catalyst under various al/v ratios and diene concentrations via solution polymerization and characterized by ftir, mooney viscosity (ml1+4,125oc), and thermal gravimetery analyzing. the polymerization yield was seen to increase with augmentation of the al/v ratio a...

Aim and Objective: To compare and evaluate the effect of ultraviolet (UV) stabilizers (UV absorbers [UVA] and hindered amine light stabilizers [HALS]) on the color change of a commonly used silicone elastomer subjected to aging by three different methods. Materials and Methodology: Four groups of 30 samples each were studied; Group A-Control, Group B-Silicone + UVA (Chimassorb 81), Group C-Sili...

Molding in a fixed prosthesis is one of the most important stages rehabilitative treatment, as it there that attempts are made to reproduce dental preparations and adjoining regions by using appropriate materials techniques. Among molding available on market, elastomers stand out, which polymers where prey occurs through increase chain establishment cross-links. The objective study present clin...

Thermoplastic Elastomers (TPE) are materials, which combine the advantages of elastomers and thermoplastics. TPE is not only used as replacement for thermoplastics. More and more parts, formerly made of rubber like CVJ boots and hydraulic seals, are nowadays made of TPE. Since the mechanical behavior of TPEs is different to elastomers, the design of TPE parts cannot be copied directly from thei...