Constitutive Model of Radiation Aging Effects in Filled Silicone Elastomers under Strain

United atom and coarse grained models for crosslinked polydimethylsiloxane with applications to the rheology of silicone fluids

Siloxane systems consisting primarily of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) are versatile, multifaceted materials that play a key role in diverse applications. However, open questions exist regarding the correlation between their varied atomic-level properties and observed macroscale features. To this effect, we have created a systematic workflow to determine coarse-grained simulation models for crosslinked PDMS in order to further elucidate the effects of network changes on the system's rheological properties below the gel point. Our approach leverages a fine-grained united atom model for linear PDMS, which we extend to include crosslinking terms, and applies iterative Boltzmann inversion to obtain a coarse-grain "bead-spring-type" model. We then perform extensive molecular dynamics simulations to explore the effect of crosslinking on the rheology of silicone fluids, where we compute systematic increases in both density and shear viscosity that compare favorably to experiments that we conduct here. The kinematic viscosity of partially crosslinked fluids follows an empirical linear relationship that is surprisingly consistent with Rouse theory, which was originally derived for systems comprised of a uniform distribution of linear chains. The models developed here serve to enable quantitative bottom-up predictions for curing- and age-induced effects on macroscale rheological properties, allowing for accurate prediction of material properties based on fundamental chemical data.

The Variety of the Stress–strain Response of Silicone Foam after Aging

The mechanical properties of silicone foam will degrade when exposed to environmental loads such as temperature and pressure for a long time. In recent years, the variation law of the stress–strain response of silicone foam during the aging process has received more and more attention, but there are few works that quantitatively analyze the variation of the stress–strain response. In this work, we quantitatively analyzed the variation law of the stress–strain response of silicone foam during aging by the constitutive model. Firstly, the accelerated aging test of silicone rubber foam under long-term compressive strain was carried out, and its compression set, stress relaxation and strain stress curves of different aging degrees were obtained. Further, degenerate trajectory equations for the compression set and stress–relaxation were obtained. In addition, the hyper-foam constitutive model was obtained by fitting stress–strain curves, and the changes in the model parameters after aging were studied. The results show that the compressed set and stress–relaxation are exponential functions of time, while different to existing research findings, we found that the stress–strain curves do not change monotonically with increasing time, which first softens, then hardens, and finally softens. Additionally, to better understand the changing trend of the stress–strain response, the correlation between the stress–strain curve and the compression set and stress–relaxation was discussed qualitatively. Finally, in the stage of monotonic change of the stress–strain curve, the exponential function of the model parameters with the increase of aging time was obtained.

Multiscale Strategy for Predicting Radiation Chemistry in Polymers

A primary mode for radiation damage in polymers arises from ballistic electrons that induce electronic excitations, yet subsequent chemical mechanisms are poorly understood. We develop a multiscale strategy to predict this chemistry starting from subatomic scattering calculations. Nonadiabatic molecular dynamics simulations sample initial bond-breaking events following the most likely excitations, which feed into semiempirical simulations that approach chemical equilibrium. Application to polyethylene reveals a mechanism explaining the low propensity to cross-link in crystalline samples.

Polymer degradation through chemical change: a quantum-based test of inferred reactions in irradiated polydimethylsiloxane

Chemical reaction schemes are key conceptual tools for interpreting the results of experiments and simulations, but often carry implicit assumptions that remain largely unverified for complicated systems. Established schemes for chemical damage through crosslinking in irradiated silicone polymers comprised of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) date to the 1950's and correlate small-molecule off-gassing with specific crosslink features. In this regard, we use a somewhat reductionist model to develop a general conditional probability and correlation analysis approach that tests these types of causal connections between proposed experimental observables to reexamine this chemistry through quantum-based molecular dynamics (QMD) simulations. Analysis of the QMD simulations suggests that the established reaction schemes are qualitatively reasonable, but lack strong causal connections under a broad set of conditions that would enable making direct quantitative connections between off-gassing and crosslinking. Further assessment of the QMD data uncovers a strong (but nonideal) quantitative connection between exceptionally hard-to-measure chain scission events and the formation of silanol (Si-OH) groups. Our analysis indicates that conventional notions of radiation damage to PDMS should be further qualified and not necessarily used ad hoc. In addition, our efforts enable independent quantum-based tests that can inform confidence in assumed connections between experimental observables without the burden of fully elucidating entire reaction networks.