Study in Surface Modification of Silica in Silicone Rubber

Abstract

Silica fillers are well known to improve the mechanical properties of elastomers.Nevertheless, the silica filler particles tend to aggregate and affect the properties of the elastomer. In the present study, the silica filler was modified by silane coupling agent (A-151) in order to improve the dispersion of the filler in silicone rubber. The composites samples added with surface treated silica filler was characterized by FT-IR, bound rubber, and fluorescent microscope with that reinforced by the unmodified filler as a comparison. FT-IR results evidences the successful surface modified by silane coupling agent. Bound rubber contents of the origin silica filler are much lower than that of the silica filler with the silane coupling agent treatment. The modified silica-filled shows a better dispersion than that of the origin silica filler and the agglomeration of filler occurs in the unmodified silica-filler compounds.