Open AccessStudy on ageing characteristics and evaluation methods of RTV silicone rubber in high humidity area
Author(s) -
Hao Yang,
Ran Wen,
Heng Zhao,
Guo Men,
Lu Zhang,
Yu Chen
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0251092
Subject(s) - silicone rubber , vulcanization , materials science , humidity , composite material , silicone , ageing , natural rubber , medicine , physics , thermodynamics
Due to high humidity, the ageing of room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber (RTV) has been a serious problem in Southwestern China. In order to solve the problem of RTV life prediction, the aging classification method was established by analyzing the microtopography of RTV samples in this paper. Besides, the comprehensive analysis of RTV element content, partial element content ratio, and major chemical groups of RTV samples in each aging level were conducted. It is found that as the ageing level increases, the element contents of C, Si, O, Al change accordingly and the ratio of C:Si drops from 2.39 to 1.54, and absorption peaks of the chemical groups of Si-(CH 3 ) 2 , Si-O-Si, Si-CH 3 and C-H in CH 3 decrease. This work can enrich the investigation of RTV, and may provide useful reference for performance evaluation and replacement of RTV in substations.