Synthesis of Structure-Controlled Polyborosiloxanes and Investigation on Their Viscoelastic Response to Molecular Mass of Polydimethylsiloxane Triggered by Both Chemical and Physical Interactions

A series of polyborosiloxanes (PBSs) was synthesized by mixing hydroxy-terminated polydimethylsiloxanes (PDMS) and boric acid (BA) in toluene at 120 °C. The molecular masses of selected PDMS precursors were in a wide range, covering from below up to far above the critical entanglement molecular mass of PDMS. The reaction kinetics was followed by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Unreacted BA was removed from raw PBSs after the reactions. The influence of molecular mass of PDMS precursors on the rheological property of PBSs was explored by dynamic oscillatory frequency sweeps. The results showed that the plateau elastic moduli of PBSs were highly dependent on the molecular mass of PDMS precursors. The plateau elastic moduli of PBSs decreased at first and then increased with increasing molecular mass of PDMS precursors. PBS1 and PBS2 prepared from unentangled PDMS precursors showed sufficient fits by using the two-mode Maxwell model, whereas PBS3 to PBS6 prepared from highly entangled PDMS precursors showed obvious deviations from the two-mode Maxwell model. It could be concluded that the changing trend of plateau elastic modulus of PBSs versus molecular mass of PDMS precursors was determined by the number density of supramolecular interactions (Si–O:B weak bonding and hydrogen-bonding of the end groups Si–O–B(OH)2) and the number density of topological entanglements.