Unusual reinforcement of silicone rubber compounds containing mesoporous silica particles as inorganic fillers.
We fabricate mesoporous silica/silicone composites in a simple way and systematically examine their thermal stability, swelling characteristic, mechanical strength, and transparency. Simple calculations show that more than 90 vol% of mesopores are filled with silicone rubbers. Compared to non-porous silica/silicone composites, mesoporous silica/silicone composites showed a lower coefficient of linear thermal expansion (CTE). In addition, dramatic improvements of the tensile strength and Young's modulus are obtained with mesoporous silica/silicone composites. Furthermore, mesoporous silica/silicone composites show higher transparency than non-porous silica/silicone composites.
World Premier International (WPI) Research Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan.
Norihiro
N
Suzuki
Shosuke
S
Kiba
Yuichiro
Y
Kamachi
Nobuyoshi
N
Miyamoto
Yusuke
Y
Yamauchi
D010316:Particle Size; D016062:Porosity; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D012828:Silicones / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
D012828:Silicones; D012822:Silicon Dioxide