Particulate Reinforcement of Polyacrylate Elastomers. II. Mechanical Properties
Abstract This paper presents and discusses the mechanical properties of crosslinked poly (ethyl acrylates) containing various amounts of microscopic glass beads. The adhesion between the glass beads and the elastomer matrix was varied by subjecting the beads to different surface treatments. That the adhesion is affected by surface treatment has been demonstrated in two ways: (1) Unfilled elastomer sheets have been cast in contact with glass surfaces which had been treated with the same reagents as the beads. The force required to peel the elastomer from the glass was then measured and found to depend strongly upon the surface treatment. (2) Scanning electron micrographs of the ruptured surfaces of used tensile test pieces cut from filled elastomer sheets confirm that surface treatment has a profound effect upon the adhesion between bead and matrix. Results are presented for the hardness and tensile stress-strain properties of elastomers containing various amounts of beads. In all cases, the stiffening effect of the beads increases as the adhesion between beads and matrix is improved. Beads which had been treated in such a way as to minimize the adhesion to the matrix were found to cause an apparent softening of the material as revealed by the tensile stress-strain curve. It has been shown that this effect can be satisfactorily explained if it is assumed that in this case the beads merely serve to increase the void content of the material.