Evidence for the Shift of the Glass Transition near the Particles in Silica-Filled Elastomers

Julien Berriot (1, 2) , Helene Montes (1, 2) , Francois Lequeux (1, 2) , Didier R. Long (3) , Paul Sotta (3)

1 SIMM - Sciences et Ingénierie de la Matière Molle
2 SIMM - Sciences et Ingénierie de la Matière Molle (UMR 7615)
3 LPS - Laboratoire de Physique des Solides

Filled elastomers exhibit complex dependence of their viscoelastic modulus, both as a function of temperature and frequency. Otherwise, recent observations on thin polymer films have shown that their glass transition temperature depends on their thickness. Based on these recent results, and on a recent model, we propose that the mechanical behaviour of the filled elastomer is strongly influenced by a gradient of the glass transition temperature in the vicinity of the particles. This allows us to suggest a specific temperature-frequency superposition law for filled rubbers. This law seems to apply very successfully on two systems with different dispersion qualities, revealing the existence of a glass transition temperature gradient in the vicinity of the particles.

Domaines: Matière Molle [cond-mat.soft]; Matière Condensée [cond-mat]

Julien Berriot, Helene Montes, Francois Lequeux, Didier R. Long, Paul Sotta. Evidence for the Shift of the Glass Transition near the Particles in Silica-Filled Elastomers. Macromolecules, 2002, 35 (26), pp.9756-9762. ⟨10.1021/ma0212700⟩. ⟨hal-02530980⟩