The effect of bound rubber on vulcanization kinetics in silica filled silicone rubber

Abstract

The effects of bound rubber on vulcanization kinetics were studied on poly(methyl vinyl) silicone rubber (VMQ) filled with three different types of silica, which was surrounded by different amount of bound rubber due to their morphological differences. Higher specific surface area (SSA) and content of silica corresponds to the more favorable formation of bound rubber. The results of cure kinetic behavior demonstrate that the loading of silica suppresses the vulcanization rate compared to neat rubber. Under the same filler content, the higher the bound rubber content, the more obvious the inhibitory effect on vulcanization reaction. A structure model of filler network mediated by bound rubber was proposed to account for the influence of the reinforcing particles on vulcanization kinetics and rheological behavior of silicone rubber, which may be adopted to analyze the properties of nanocomposites with different fillers.