Silicone compositions and related methods

Abstract

Crosslinked silicone foams are provided that can be substantially free of chemical blowing agents or byproducts thereof. These foams can be prepared from polymerizable silicone compositions that include an MQ-water cluster including a silicate MQ resin and a quantity of water dispersed in the silicate MQ resin and a silicone fluid, wherein the MQ-water cluster and silicone fluid collectively provide a inverted emulsion having a continuous and a discontinuous phase, the continuous phase including the silicone fluid and the discontinuous phase including the MQ-water cluster. The foams can be made by dispersing water into a silicate MQ resin to provide an MQ-water cluster; dispersing the stabilized MQ-water cluster into a silicone fluid to obtain an inverted silicone emulsion having the MQ-water cluster as a discontinuous phase and the silicone fluid as a continuous phase; foaming the silicone emulsion by evolving the water in the MQ-water cluster to provide a cellular structure; and polymerizing the silicone emulsion.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.