Dear Thorsten,

here are some ideas:

- make sure that the Sylgard 184 components are mixed
  at an exact 1:10 (by weight) ratio, and degassed (house
  vacuum) before molding
- make sure the pieces are fully cured (at least 60 C overnight -
  it is essentially impossible to overcure it)

- sonicate in ethanol, and dry at say 90 C, just before the  plasma
  treatment
- avoid all contamination (touching the surface with the vinyl
  or latex gloves or anything else but the clean tweezers),
  make sure your plasma chamber is clean, make sure your
  mold (master) is clean
- we normally use 1 torr O2 at 20 W for 30 seconds - this may vary
  for various plasma cleaners

--

Nikola Pekas
Iowa State University



>Dear all,
>
>does somebody have some experience with the bonding of two pieces of
>O2-activated silicone rubber (Sylgard 184)? We have obtained some
>strange results after using a new batch of material, that means we have
>problems with the adhesion of the two silicone pieces. I appreciate your
>comments.

>Thanks in advance,

>Thorsten Knoll