Study on the coupling effect of silica‐reinforced silicone foam material in irradiation and corrosive solution environment

Abstract

To evaluate the suitability of silica‐reinforced silicone foam materials under extreme conditions, we studied the coupling effect of silica‐reinforced silicone foam material in irradiation and corrosive solution environment. The results showed that irradiation at 5 wt% KMnO4 attenuated the increase in crosslink density of silicone foams, while a different observation was found when the samples were treated with a 5 wt% HNO3 solution. The HNO3‐treated samples showed a significant decrease in elongation at break compared to the untreated samples. Mechanical properties, swelling, TGA, SEM, and XPS showed that HNO3 had a severe effect on the structure of the silicone foam. This may be due to the fact that the highly corrosive HNO3 disrupts the connecting structure between the silicone foam matrix and the filler. Based on this analysis, the damage mechanism of silicon foam material under the coupling conditions of corrosive solution and irradiation was proposed.