Thermal stability of in situ filled siloxane elastomers

Poly(dimethylsiloxane) elastomers that had been filled with in situ precipitated silica were studied by thermogravimetric analysis, under nitrogen and in air. Both types of measurements indicated that the filler raises the temperature of thermooxidative degradation of the polymer, possibly by inactivating the terminal OH groups on the chains. Commercial fume silica was found to cause more severe degradation problems than did the in situ precipitated silica. In all cases, the degradation was more pronounced in air than in the inert atmosphere provided by nitrogen.