As far as I know, the presence or absence of air has little or no influence
on the chemistry of the polymerisation.

I also don't think a hotplate would be much different to an oven. There are
is no solvents to be evaporated and as long as the bulk of the PDMS reaches
a similar temperature in both cases, I see no reason why there would be any
difference.

I suppose you may get better thermal contact with the hotplate so it may be
slightly quicker but I wouldn't worry about the temperature.


On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 07:47, DEBASHIS MAJI  wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I would like to know whether there is any difference in the curing
> of PDMS if it done using a vacuum oven ( i.e. by convection curing ) or
> over a hot plate( conduction curing ) with a vacuum system. Is there any
> particular temperature difference in the two process that might be
> necessary
> for complete curing of the PDMS ? If so how much?  I think that the vacuum
> oven ( by convection ) may need a greater temp as compared to the other
> one.
>
> Any kind of help shall be highly appreciated.
>
> Thanks and Regards,
>
> Debashis Maji, JRF,
> School of Medical Science & Technology,
> IIT Khargpur, India - 721302