PREPARATION OF HIGH-TEMPERATURE VULCANIZED SILICONE RUBBER OF EXCELLENT MECHANICAL AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES USING HYDROPHOBIC NANO SILICA SOL AS REINFORCEMENT

Hydrophobic nano silica sol (HNSS) was incorporated into polyvinylmethylsiloxane to prepare reinforced high-temperature vulcanized (HTV) silicone rubber. HTV silicone rubber filled with 40 phr HNSS showed excellent mechanical and optical properties: the tensile strength reached 11.7 MPa and the optical transmittance was higher than 90%. Possible reasons for reinforcement and transparency were discussed on the basis of the bound rubber percentage, total crosslink density, and SEM analysis. Our work suggests that HNSS is effective for reinforcement of HTV silicone rubber to endow excellent mechanical and optical properties.