Do you know silicone rubber damping materials?

The main chain of silicone rubber is composed of Si-O-Si chain links, with large Si-O-Si bond energy, high temperature resistance and good performance; the side chain is an organic group with large bond angles, large orientation freedom, and good flexibility. Has excellent low temperature resistance.

Damping mechanism of silicone rubber

When the polymer viscoelastic material is subjected to stress and strain, the bent molecular chains will undergo deformation such as stretching and bending, and twisting and slippage between the molecular chains will also occur. After the external force disappears, the elastic part restores part of the molecular chain to the original position, while the viscous part prevents the slippage between the chain segments from being completely restored, resulting in permanent deformation, causing part of the energy to be consumed in the form of heat.

Application of silicone rubber damping material

Silicone rubber has stable mechanical and damping properties in a large temperature range, outstanding high and low temperature resistance and aging resistance, and can adapt to the working environment of aerospace products. With the emergence of new high-damping silicone rubber and the application of new blending technology, silicone rubber is gradually replacing butyl rubber as the first choice in aerospace damping and vibration-damping structures.

The researchers used phenyl silicone rubber as a matrix, added polyaniline coated lead titanate (PZT) and conductive carbon black to prepare a silicone rubber composite piezoelectric damping material. This kind of material is also called intelligent damping silicone rubber. It has excellent electrical conductivity. When a certain amount of charge appears on the surface of PZT, polyaniline can collect more charge and transport the charge to the carbon black conductive network. Improve the efficiency of charge transfer.

I believe that with the development of science and technology, more and more silicone rubber damping materials will be used in our lives.