Relationship Between Curing Characteristics and Mechanical Properties of HTV Silicone Rubber

Curing characteristics of rubbers through their effects on crosslinking density affect the final properties of vulcanized rubbers. In this study, compounds of high temperature vulcanized silicone rubber (HTV-SR) containing different amounts of dicumyl peroxide (DCP) as curing agent were prepared and the effect of DCP concentration on the curing characteristics and mechanical properties of the vulcanized SR were investigated. The obtained results showed that by increasing the DCP amount the difference between maximum and minimum torque of rheometry was increased, however the tensile strength was increased for the DCP content up to 1 phr and by further increasing DCP and increasing the crosslink density it was unexpectedly decreased gradually. Increasing the DCP amount increased the hardness and decreased the elongation at break of the compounds.