The Damping Characteristic of Some Graphite/Phenyl Silicone Rubber Composites for Sound Reduction Application

ABSTRACT In this work, we report on a successful method to fabricate phenyl silicone rubber (P‐SR)/graphite composites, with superior viscoelastic properties over a wide temperature range, through an open roll mill mixer. The results obtained showed that the viscoelastic property of P‐SR was greatly improved by the incorporation of graphite, as evidenced by the increases in tan δ of composites with the loading of graphite. Specifically, the effective damping temperature ranges of composites with the tan δ > 0.3 can reach 280°C for the 60 parts per hundred rubber (phr) graphite loadings. While the damping temperature ranges of the pure P‐SR were only 30°C, thus showing that the incorporation of graphite can greatly improve the viscoelastic property of P‐SR. Moreover, the tensile stress strength and elongation at break of the composites were found to be significantly improved compared to the pure P‐SR. The enhancements in the properties can be attributed to a greater degree of homogeneous dispersion of the graphite in the composite matrices.