Coupling effects of gamma irradiation and moisture on the properties of SiO2 and TiO2 filled silicone rubber

This work mainly includes the effects of gamma irradiation and absorbed moisture on the properties of silicone rubber. The coupling effects have been analyzed by characterization of tensile, creep, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). With the same absorbed dose, the elongation at break, creep elongation, melting temperature, melting enthalpy and crosslinking density of the dewatered silicone rubber after irradiation show more obvious change than the pristine samples (the content of absorbed moisture is 0.3%), which means that the absorbed moisture is an important factor in the coupling aging of silicone rubber. The moisture is likely to reduce the chain mobility and restrain crosslinking reactions even with quite low absorbed moisture content. • Coupling effects of gamma irradiation and moisture were investigated. • The dewatered sample shows greater changes than the control after irradiation. • Moisture content was not linear with the aging degree of silicone rubber.