Simultaneous improvement of mechanical, adhesive and ablative properties of phenolic epoxy modified PDMS

• Published in: Polymer (Guilford) 2024-10, Vol.311, p.127522, Article 127522
• Main Authors: Fu, Bojie, Wang, Yuan, Ding, Weiyi, Tian, Jinfeng, Han, Shitian, Chen, Wenxing, Heng, Zhengguang, Xia, Shuang, Liang, Mei, Zou, Huawei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ablation properties; Adhesive properties; Epoxy resin; Liquid silicone rubber; Mechanical properties
• ISSN: 0032-3861
• DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2024.127522

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) exhibits exceptional thermal stability and processability, however, limited adhesion and carbonization performance hinders its applications as flexible thermal protection materials. Herein, a phenolic epoxy modified silicone rubber (KFAP@PDMS) was synthesized, and the microscopic morphology, macroscopic mechanical properties, adhesive properties, thermal properties and ablative properties were systematically investigated. Compared to pure PDMS, the modified material exhibits a maximum tensile strength increase of 170 %, maximum elongation at break increases of 141 %, maximum adhesion strength increases of 209 %, and linear ablation rate decrease 84.9 %, respectively. Thermal degradation analysis indicates that the introducing of KFAP increases crosslink density while the degradation products mainly consist of D3, D4, and toluene compounds. Ablation analysis reveals that the inclusion of KFAP promotes an in-situ carbon-silicon multiphase ceramization reaction, resulting in densification of the carbon layer and significant improvement of the ablation performance. [Display omitted] •A carbon silicon composite hybrid network of phenolic epoxy silicone rubber was constructed.•The adhesion, mechanical and ablation properties of silicone rubber have been simultaneously improved.•Thermal degradation mechanism of hybrid material was discussed in detail.