Hyperelasticity, dynamic mechanical property, and rheology of addition‐type silicone rubber (VPDMS cured by PMHS)

ABSTRACT The aerospace‐level addition‐type silicone rubber (ASR) was prepared by vinyl‐terminated polydimethylsiloxane (VPDMS) and aerospace‐level polymethylhydrosiloxane (PMHS) and its mechanical properties were investigated through the hyperelastic measurements, the dynamic mechanical tests and the rheological experiments. The hyperelastic analysis shows that the tensile strength and the break strain are separately 3.00 MPa and 281%, and the proposed model exhibits good descriptions of the uniaxial behaviors. The dynamic mechanical analysis indicates that two transition temperatures are observed for the ASR. The storage modulus, the loss modulus and the loss factor become stable when the temperature is higher than −35°C. The rheological analysis presents that the storage and loss modulus appeared an obvious growth with increasing frequency at the temperature of −120 and −110°C. The moduli have an apparent nonlinear dependence on the strain amplitude and a nonlinear function is utilized to express that relationship. This nonlinear model shows well agreements with the experimental data. The investigations on the aerospace‐level ASR in this article have some meanings for its usage in aerospace products. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132 , 42036.