Printing plates imageable by ablative discharge and silicone formulations relating thereto

A recording medium capable of being imaged using ablative discharge, comprising a substrate having applied to at least one surface thereof a composition comprising a cured polymeric silicone matrix consisting essentially of the reaction product of:

• a. a first polysiloxane component having a molecular weight in excess of 300,000 and comprising substantially linear chains of substituted siloxane units, some of which units contain, as substituents, at least one reactive functional group, each functional group being randomly interspersed in each first-component chain;
• b. a second polysiloxane component having a molecular weight in excess of 5,000 but no greater than 70,000, and comprising substantially linear chains of substituted siloxane units, each of which is capped by terminal siloxane units that each contain, as substituents, at least one reactive functional group;
• and
• c. a cross-linking component having a molecular weight no greater than 5,000 and containing functional groups reactive reactive with at least some of the functional groups of the first component or of the second component or of both components;
• wherein
• d. the relative weight proportion of the first component to the second component is at least 10% and no more than 90%.