Lubricious silicone surface modification

A shaped elastomeric article including at least one surface portion characterized by having a reduced coefficient of friction, said article comprising:

• a shaped elastomeric article including a body having at least one elastomeric surface portion;
• and
• a firmly-adherent matrix coating crosslinked with said surface portion, said matrix coating having a thickness of between about 0.01 and about 20 microns and consisting essentially of crosslinked silane micro-nodules which are raised above and which penetrate and bond into the elastomeric surface portion, which raised micro-nodules reduce the coefficient of friction of the elastomeric surface portion, said crosslinked silane, prior to cross-linking, had the formula:
• ##STR7## wherein R is a moiety selected from the group consisting of unsubstituted and halogen-substituted aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, aromatic and alkyl aromatic groups having less than or equal to about ten carbon atoms, R.sup.1 is a moiety independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, hydroxy, halogen, alkoxy and acyloxy groups, R.sup.2 is a moiety independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl and halogen-substituted alkyl groups, n is an integer of 1 to 3 inclusive, and m=3-n.

A method for reducing the coefficient of friction of a surface of an elastomeric article, said method comprising:

• providing an elastomeric article having at least one surface portion to be treated;
• contacting said surface portion with a curable surface modifying composition consisting essentially of a crosslinkable Silane having the formula:
• ##STR8## wherein R is a moiety selected from the group consisting of unsubstituted and halogen-substituted aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, aromatic and alkyl aromatic groups having less than or equal to about ten carbon atoms, R.sup.1 is a moiety independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, hydroxy, halogen, alkoxy and acyloxy groups, R.sup.2 is a moiety independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl and halogen-substituted alkyl groups, n is an integer of 1 to 3 inclusive, and m=3-n ;
• and
• exposing the contacted surface portion to temperatures at or above room temperature in the presence of moisture in order to form a firmly-adherent, lubricious, coefficient of friction-reducing surface modification on said surface portion, said surface modification having a thickness of between about 0.01 and about 20 microns and being a matrix of a plurality of micro-nodules which are raised above said surface portion in order to reduce the coefficient of friction of said surface portion.

A method for increasing the crosslink density, relative hardness and rebound resiliency of an elastomeric article, said method comprising:

• providing an elastomeric article to be treated having at least one surface portion;
• contacting said surface portion with a curable surface modifying composition consisting essentially of a crosslinkable silane having the formula:
• ##STR9## wherein R is a moiety selected from the group consisting of unsubstituted and halogen-substituted aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, aromatic and alkyl aromatic groups having less than or equal to about ten carbon atoms, R.sup.1 is a moiety independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, hydroxy, halogen, alkoxy and acyloxy groups, R.sup.2 is a moiety independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl and halogen-substituted alkyl groups, n is an integer of 1 to 3 inclusive, and m=3-n ;
• and
• exposing the contacted surface portion to temperatures at or above room temperature in the presence of moisture in order to form a firmly-adherent, lubricious, coefficient of friction-reducing surface modification on said surface portion, said surface modification having a thickness of between about 0.01 and about 20 microns and being a matrix of a plurality of micro-nodules which are raised above said surface portion in order to reduce the coefficient of friction of said surface portion.