Polydimethylsiloxane, a photocurable rubberelastic polymer used as spring material in micromechanical sensors

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is a commercially available physically and chemically stable photocurable silicone rubber which has a unique flexibility (G≈250 kPa) at room temperature. Further properties of PDMS are a low elasticity change versus temperature (1.1 kPa/°C), no elasticity change versus frequency and a high compressibility. PDMS is an interesting polymer to be used as spring material in micromechanical sensors such as accelerometers. The spring constant of the PDMS structures was theoretically calculated and measurements were done on accelerometers with PDMS springs to validate the theory. The measured and calculated spring constants showed a good correspondence, so the measurement results showed that the PDMS structures can successfully be used as mechanical springs.