Patent ID: 11920044
Assignee: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Field: Macromolecular chemistry, polymers (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC C  B | IPC B  C

Claim 6:
7. A method of making a photocurable elastomeric ink configured for use in photopolymerization-enabled additive manufacturing of a self-healing elastomeric product, the method comprising:
partially oxidizing (mercaptopropyl)methylsiloxane-dimethylsiloxane copolymer with an oxidizing solution comprising an iodonium salt to form a first intermediate solution containing a thiol-disulfide oligomer having both unreacted thiol groups and disulfide crosslinks;
adding a vinyl-terminated polydimethylsiloxane to the first intermediate solution to produce a second intermediate solution;
adding an aryl phosphine to the second intermediate solution to form a third intermediate solution; and
adding a photoinitiator and a photoabsorber to the third intermediate solution to form the photocurable elastomeric ink,
wherein the photocurable elastomeric ink comprises unreacted thiol groups for photopolymerization-enabled additive manufacturing and disulfide crosslinks to promote self-healing properties to the self-healing elastomeric product produced from the photocurable elastomeric ink;
wherein from about 2.2 wt. % to about 2.8 wt. % of iodobenzene diacetate (IBDA), based on the total weight of the photocurable elastomeric ink, is used to partially oxidize the (mercaptopropyl)methylsiloxane-dimethylsiloxane copolymer.