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A flexible silicone polymer that can form an elastomer when lightly crosslinked. The network's recoverable deformation provides an example of rubber elasticity.

A silicone is a polymeric material with a silicon-oxygen backbone bearing organic substituents, commonly methyl groups. Polydimethylsiloxane is a familiar example.

Backbone flexibility, side groups, chain length, and crosslinking determine whether the material behaves as a fluid, gel, or elastic solid. Silicone is a polymer family and should be distinguished from elemental silicon and inorganic silicon dioxide.

Song Lu coauthored research on polydimethylsiloxane.^[ref]

A flexible silicone polymer that can form an elastomer when lightly crosslinked. The network's recoverable deformation provides an example of rubber elasticity.