3. General properties

The properties are obviously quite different for a non-reactive oil and a heat-vulcanized elastomer, but there are general features due to the silicon-rich skeleton and silicon-oxygen linkages that provide :

• higher bond energy than other polymers;

• improved thermo-oxidative stability;

• greater flexibility and mobility of the polymer chain;

• surface properties and a particular, modulable hydrophobic/organophobic character;

• a high level of safety.

  These common properties can be grouped according to 3 origins.

• Induced by the strength of the Si-O bond

  The binding energy of the Si-O group is 439 kJ/mol,...