Reinforcement of poly(dimethylsiloxane) by sol-gel in situ generated silica and titania particles

The usual sol-gel process was applied to precipitate silica or titania particles in a preformed poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) network under the presence of dibutyltin diacetate used as a catalyst. The resulting structures of the reinforcing fillers were studied by transmission electron microscopy and small-angle neutron scattering. Stress-strain measurements in elongation and equilibrium swelling experiments revealed distinct behaviors mainly attributed to the nature and the size of the generated particles and to the formation, in the case of titania, of a filler network even at low filler loadings.