Abstract
The aging behavior of silica-filled polydimethylsiloxanes with molecular weights ranging from 9000 to 140,000 g/mol was examined for several filler surface treatments. A funned silica with 130 g/m2 surface area was used as received and after treatment with hexamethyldisiloxane and hexamethyldisilazane. The rheological properties, bound rubber, and state of dispersion of these systems were monitored as a functional of time. The samples exhibited softening instead of crepe hardening which is typically reported for silica filled systems. These experiments indicate that polymer adsorption onto the surface plays an important role in determining the overall stability of these systems. Significant changes in the dispersion of filler were observed and these changes were dependent on polymer molecular weight and filler surface treatment. The addition of a surface treating agent, either physically adsorbed or covalently bound to the silica surface, that inhibits the adsorption of polymer was found to significantly increase the stability of the filler dispersion and therefore the rheological properties. An increase in the number of bridging chains during aging is responsible for the force which allows the filler migration to occur.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 86-93 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of Colloid And Interface Science |
| Volume | 217 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 1 1999 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors thank the Center for Interfacial Engineering, the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center at the University of Minnesota, and Dow Corning Corporation for their generous support.
Keywords
- Adsorption
- Dispersion
- Mixing
- Polydimethylsiloxane
- Rheology
- Silica
- Suspension