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Morphology and structure of silica agglomerates in silica‐reinforced silicone rubber
Author(s) -
Galanti A. V.,
Sperling L. H.
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.1970.070141112
Subject(s) - agglomerate , materials science , composite material , silicone rubber , filler (materials) , silicone , morphology (biology) , natural rubber , particle (ecology) , light scattering , reinforcement , scattering , optics , oceanography , genetics , physics , biology , geology
Light‐scattering and optical microscope observations of silica‐reinforced silicone rubber have shown that the filler is dispersed in a complex manner. Much of the original material appears agglomerated into particles several microns in size. These particles apparently further cluster to form agglomerates of about 20 μ in diameter. In an earlier paper in this series it was shown that the thermodynamic function f e / f (the fraction of the retractive force due to internal energy changes) was a measure of the reinforcement level. It is now proposed that the corresponding physical mechanism of reinforcement may have its origin in the large amounts of energy required to deform the filler particle agglomerates.