Erosion resistance of nano-filled silicone rubber

The paper presents the experimental results obtained on the erosion resistance of silicone rubber (SIR) filled with 12 nm size fumed silica (nano filler) to those filled with 5 /spl mu/m size silica filler (micro filler). The ASTM 2303 inclined plane tracking and erosion test was used in the comparison as well as an infrared laser as the source of heat to erode the SIR samples. The erosion resistance of the SIR materials increased with increasing percentage of the fillers, and it was observed that 10% by weight of nano-filled SIR gives a performance that is similar to that obtained with 50% by weight of micro-filled SIR. The low frequency components of leakage current and the eroded mass are used to evaluate the relative erosion resistance of the composites and the third harmonic component of the leakage current shows good correlation to the measured eroded mass. The paper discusses the possible reasons for the improvement in the erosion resistance of nano-filled silicone composites.