Synthesis and characterization of electrically conductive silicone rubber — TiB2 composites

In this paper, electrically conductive composites comprised of silicone rubber and titanium diboride (TiB2) were synthesized by conventional mixing methods. Fine particles of TiB2 (in micron size) and 10 parts per hundred parts of rubber (phr) proportion of carbon black (XC-72) were used to make the composites with HTV silicone rubber. The composites were cured at appropriate temperature and pressure and the effect on the electrical properties was studied. The resistance of the silicone rubber is ~ 1015Ω which decreases to 1–2 kΩ in case of composites with negligible effect of heat ageing. The hardness increases by ~ 35% simultaneous to the decrease of ~ 47% in the tensile strength. Morphological characterization indicates the homogeneous dispersion of the fillers in the composite.