Silicone elastomers with improved electro-mechanical performance using slide-ring polymers

Synergistic Self-Healing Enhancement in Multifunctional Silicone Elastomers and Their Application in Smart Materials

Organosilicon polymers (silicones) are of enduring interest both as an established branch of polymer chemistry and as a segment of commercial products. Their unique properties were exploited in a wide range of everyday applications. However, current silicone trends in chemistry and materials engineering are focused on new smart applications, including stretchable electronics, wearable stress sensors, protective coatings, and soft robotics. Such applications require a fresh approach to methods for increasing the durability and mechanical strength of polysiloxanes, including crosslinked systems. The introduction of self-healing options to silicones has been recognized as a promising alternative in this field, but only carefully designed multifunctional systems operating with several different self-healing mechanisms can truly address the demands placed on such valuable materials. In this review, we summarized the progress of research efforts dedicated to the synthesis and applications of self-healing hybrid materials through multi-component systems that enable the design of functional silicon-based polymers for smart applications.

Physical Properties of Slide-Ring Material Reinforced Ethylene Propylene Diene Rubber Composites

High-damping rubber composites were prepared by mixing ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber (EPDM) with slide-ring (SR) materials using a two-roll mill, followed by a compression molding technique. SR material has a novel supramolecular structure with unique softness and slidable crosslink junctions. The mechanical strength, thermal stability, compression set property, and damping performance of the composites were investigated. The use of the high damping SR phase dispersed in the EPDM matrix displayed improved physical properties and damping performance compared to those of virgin rubber. As SR content increases in the composites, the damping factor of SR/EPDM blends becomes higher at room temperature. In addition to this, the SR composites showed excellent improvements in the compression set properties. The composites showed a compression set improvement of 35–38% compared to virgin EPDM. These improvements are due to the “pulley effect” of slide-ring materials. Therefore, these materials present a robust platform for making novel elastomer composites for high-performance damping and sealing applications.