Mechanical and thermal degradation behavior of high-performance PDMS elastomer based on epoxy/silicone hybrid network

In this study, the high-performance PDMS elastomer was successfully prepared by constructing epoxy/silicone hybrid network through hydrosilylation and epoxide-opening reaction. The tensile strength, elongation at break and shear strength of the prepared hybrid material were increased by 200.0%, 59.6%, 140.6% respectively when compared with the pure PDMS. The thermal residual weight of the hybrid material at 800 °C in N2 was kept at 56.9%. The thermal degradation mechanism of hybrid material was investigated through TG-IR analysis. Friedman technique was used to compute the kinetic parameters of degradation reaction. Meanwhile, the composition and structure of residual char of hybrid material after thermal degradation at 800 °C was systematically characterized. Results indicated that the high-performance PDMS elastomer with excellent thermal and mechanical properties was expected to be applied in many prospects such as thermal protective coating, high temperature resistant adhesive and ablative material matrix.