The Damping Characteristic of Some Graphite/Phenyl Silicone Rubber Composites for Sound Reduction Application

In this work, we report on a successful method to fabricate phenyl silicone rubber (P-SR)/graphite composites, with superior viscoelastic properties over a wide temperature range, through an open roll mill mixer. The results obtained showed that the viscoelastic property of P-SR was greatly improved by the incorporation of graphite, as evidenced by the increases in tan δ of composites with the loading of graphite. Specifically, the effective damping temperature ranges of composites with the tan δ > 0.3 can reach 280°C for the 60 parts per hundred rubber (phr) graphite loadings. While the damping temperature ranges of the pure P-SR were only 30°C, thus showing that the incorporation of graphite can greatly improve the viscoelastic property of P-SR. Moreover, the tensile stress strength and elongation at break of the composites were found to be significantly improved compared to the pure P-SR. The enhancements in the properties can be attributed to a greater degree of homogeneous dispersion of the graphite in the composite matrices.