Viscoelastic behavior of filled silicone elastomers and influence of aging in inert and hermetic environment

This article presents a series of experimental investigations on the viscoelastic behavior of silica-filled and silver-filled silicone rubber on the unaged and aged states. The study of specific aging conditions relative to the electronics industry is proposed in this work, namely aging in a hermetic, initially inert atmosphere, at high temperatures. Viscoelastic properties of the materials are measured through DMA tests. Strain sweep tests are carried for the characterization of unaged materials, and frequency sweeps at ambient temperature are performed to characterize the aging-dependent behavior. As a result of the experimental studies, an aging-dependent generalized Maxwell model is proposed in an attempt to describe the evolution in the behavior of silicones due to aging.