Tensile behaviour and fracture characteristics of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) filled silica composites

摘要

The focus of this study is to investigate the mechanical properties and fracture behaviour of polydimethylsiloxane filled crystalline silica composites (PDMSJCS) via tensile test. The PDMSICS composites were fabricated by using casting method and cured at room temperature for 24hours. Crystalline silica were filled into PDMS at composition of 2, 6, 10 wt%. The tensile properties of PDMS/2wt%CS showed that the tensile stress was improved by 4.3%. Fracture behaviour of the tested PDMSICS composites were characterized using Scanning ElectronMicroscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) which used to determine the characteristic of fracture surface. Observation via SEM and AFM showed that the increment of filler in PDMS increased the tendency of the fillerto be agglomerated and increase the surface roughness of PDMSJCS composites. Thus, this concludes that the agglomeration of fillers effect to the overall mechanical strength of the PDMSJCS is insignificant. However, theadditions of fillers were proven to improve the strength of the composites.