Surface Degradation of Silicone Rubber Exposed to Corona Discharge

Author

Zhu, Yong ; Haji, Kenichi ; Otsubo, Masahisa ; Honda, Chikahisa

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Electron. Eng., Miyazaki Univ.

Volume

34

Issue

4

fYear

2006

Firstpage

1094

Lastpage

1098

Abstract

This paper describes the surface degradation of unfilled high-temperature vulcanized silicone rubber (HTV-SR) resulting from creeping corona discharges under atmospheric pressure. In this paper, HTV-SR specimens were exposed to corona stress generated by a parallel needle-plate electrode system; furthermore, physicochemical analyses were conducted on the surface layer of SR before and after corona discharge treatment. The results showed that the plasma impingement from the corona discharge can cause physical and chemical damages to the SR surface. In addition, it was demonstrated that instead of hydrophobic CH ₃ groups, hydrophilic OH groups that are by-products of aging may be formed on the surface of aged SR; furthermore, the corona discharge plays an important role in the loss of hydrophobicity

Keywords

corona; plasma chemistry; plasma materials processing; reaction kinetics theory; silicone rubber; surface chemistry; surface treatment; aging by-products; atmospheric pressure; corona discharge; high-temperature vulcanized silicone rubber; hydrophilic OH groups; hydrophobic CH₃ groups; parallel needle-plate electrode; physicochemical analyses; plasma impingement; surface degradation; Aging; Atmospheric-pressure plasmas; Corona; Degradation; Electrodes; Rubber; Stress; Strontium; Surface discharges; Surface treatment; Corona discharge; hydrophobicity; plasma impingement; silicone rubber (SR);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TPS.2006.876498

Filename

1673489