<> Dow White Paper Can You Estimate Modulus From Durometer Hardness for Silicones? Yes, but only roughly and you must choose your modulus carefully! By Kent Larson such crosslinker and adhesion promoter 10900 rmovement can create a 354 hardness +000 Adhesbes, Coatings difference between the bottom and the svt Hard Ecapectants | top ofa sample cured in an open container. ¢ 100 | Sicone Moking Young's Modulus Testing 3 0 seen Compounds “Testing of Young’s modulus 2 \ ‘modulus = Modulus of Elasticity is most 2 ‘commonly done by generating a stress] $ Softcels 5 Orica and Die strain curve in tension. 's modul 304 \,_ Atbecees tr ‘tension. Young's modulus is defined asthe initial slope of the stress] oot Nolaabie strain response, However, measuring Rubbers slope is not as easy, while taking a tensile 001 strength ata given elongation i. Tensile strength divided by elongation isa *Secant” modulus. Such a Secant modulus foung’s modulus only when the stress] Introduction + Nonplanarity of the material's surface strain response is linear. For products ter Testing + Surface defects that have such & very linear response Durometer hardness testing is very simple, inexpensive and fast way to ‘characterize elastomers. When used within the boundaries of 10-90 points (or ‘even 20.80) itis quite reproducible and is often used as roughly correlating to ‘Young's modulus. Young's modulus, on the other hand, is not so simply measured, and what many tend to refer to as Young's ‘modulus is in fact only an estimate~and sometimes a poor one at that, Datais also sometimes referred to as a “modulus” ‘when instead it is a tensile strength at a given elongation. Durometer hardness is measured with a spring loaded indenter. Readings can be impacted by: + Voids or other defects near the surface (may not be visible) + Macro non-homogeneities near the surface, such as from poor mixing of ‘wo component formulations ‘The extent of curejerosslinking of an elastomer has a large impact on the durometer hardness. Products cured at low temperatures can often see a 5A hardness increase when heat cured or after a hot postcure, Less well known is that concentration gradients ‘can begin to form in many products immediately upon dispensing as some ‘mobile ingredients move toward the container or air interface. For room temperature condensation cure products over a long range of strain, the simplest reasonable estimate of Young's modulus is ‘the tensile strength at 100% elongation. However, most products do not have such a linear stressfstrain relationship. It is ‘common to see an initial steeper slope, followed by 2 much lower slope that ‘eventually steepens again as the material approaches falurepbreakage. For these products, a Secant modulus at 100% elongation (often referred to asa “100% modulus”) may grossly ‘underestimate Young's modulus. In an attempt to refine the estimate, sometimes values will be reported at some smaller strain, such as “10% Modulus" of “25% “Modulus”. In some cases this will be a Secant modulus, where, for instance, thetensile strength at 10% strain is divided by that strain (01) In other cases what is reported may just be the tensile strength at that strain, Generally, a Secant modulus can be a reasonably good estimate of Young's modulus at sufficiently low strains ~ for many products such as LSRs it seems 25% or les is reasonable, though for other products much lower strains of > G", with G’ often >10G". In this case G* can be reasonably approximated by G’. Note that this may not be the case with very soft materials such as gels, or more “lossy” materials like psa’s, hot melts and TPSiVs. ‘Young's modulus (Eis approximated as: B= 26"(1+ vy), where v = Poisson's Rati. For silicones, Poisson's ratio is commonly taken as 048-1495. With 1+ v therefore ‘essentially = 15, the equation can be simplified to: E = 3G' Correlations Between Durometer and Young's Modulus Perhaps the most widely known correlation of durometer values to Young's modulus was put forth in 1958 by A. N. Gent! 0981156 + 7623365) ‘ns7s0s(as4 - 2549) Where E = Young's modulus in MPa and ‘$= ASTM D2240 Type A durometer hardness. This equation is considered a Comparison of Young's Modulus to Shore A Durometer ‘Young's Modus, EMP application-dependent strain and after a 1000 Dua prescribed movement history maybe most 4g Pee ‘propriate to understand performance. 10 3 oe 3/6 Bote x {35m Seca 2 = a ° ly = 0.161400" 4 o1 ‘hinges J 5 aoa) 0 oO oon ‘ oor [8 0001 o 10 9% 9% 4 80 60 7 80 8 100 Nominal Shere ADurmeter Hardness (0 1-25%6Secant QDMA ARDA sesle Readings Comparison of Young's Modulus to Shore ADurometer 1000 100 g Z 10 21 Bos oot 010 20 90 40 90 80 70 80 a0 100 OGO*B0 F090 “30 857580" B0 F00 Nominal Shore A Durometer Hardness (© 1.259% Secant_ @RDA © Gent Equation ‘A Rees Equation Expon(1-254 Secant