STRESS-RELAXATION STUDIES OF MODEL SILICONE RTV NETWORKS

The stress relaxation behavior of model silicon room temperature vulcanizing (RTV) elastomers has been used to examine the chemistry of the curved silicone network. It has been shown that the tin crosslinking catalyst, together with water, produces siloxane bond rearrangement which results in chemical stress relaxation. The measurement of the rate of stress relaxation of unfilled model elastomers of various temperatures gave an apparent activation energy of 10.3 kcal/mole-1 for the relaxation process. In addition, the effects of some of the constituents of the RTV on relaxation behavior have been examined.