Study on the thermal stability and ablation properties of metallic oxide-filled silicone rubber composites using uniform design method

Abstract

Abstract The thermal stability and ablation properties of silicone rubber composites filled with Fe2O3, SnO2, CuO, MgO, and Al2O3 were researched using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and the oxyacetylene torch test. The effecting laws of metallic oxide on the thermal stability and ablation properties of silicone rubber composites were analyzed by uniform design method. TGA indicated that the thermal degradation process of silicone rubber composites took a two mass loss steps. The effecting order of metallic oxide on enhancing thermal stability property of silicone rubber composites in step 1 was MgO>SnO2> Fe2O3>Al2O3>CuO, whereas the order in step 2 was CuO> SnO2>MgO>Fe2O3>Al2O3. Furthermore, Fe2O3 and SnO2 had an evident synergistic effect on enhancing the thermal stability property and residual carbon of silicone rubber composites. The oxyacetylene torch test showed that the effecting order of metallic oxide on increasing ablation resistance property of silicone rubber composites in ablation process was CuO>MgO>Fe2O3>SnO2>Al2O3. Moreover, the line ablation rate of specimen 2 was 0.0499, which indicated that it had the best ablation resistance among all uniform samples. Furthermore, scanning electron microscopy also showed that the porous ceramic layer became much denser after the ablation process, and this will significantly improve the ablation resistance property.