Effect of thermal-oxidative aging on cellular structure and properties of silicone rubber foams

Abstract

The aging properties of silicon rubber foam (SRF) were studied by using thermal-oxidative accelerated aging method, and the influence law of different aging time on cellular structure and properties of SRF was explored. The results showed that SRF materials with different densities had different cellular structure, and the large the density of SRF materials, the smaller cellular size, the thicker cellular wall and the larger the proportion of closed cell. In the process of thermal-oxidative aging, the cellular structure was destroyed with the increasing aging time. With the same aging time, the cellular structure of SRF materials with the higher density was destroyed more seriously. In addition, combined with the result of cellular microstructure and properties, it was found that the destruction of the cellular structure of SRF materials would lead to the increase of compression permanent deformation and stress loss rate.

Keywords

• silicon rubber foam
• thermal-oxidative accelerated aging
• cellular structure
• stress relaxation behavior
• aging property
• compression performance