In situ grafting coupling agent on polyester fabric to significantly improve the interfacial adhesion to silicone rubber

Abstract

Abstract The wear resistance and tear strength of silicone rubber can be greatly improved by warp knitted polyester fabric, but the application of fabric rubber composites is limited by the poor bonding interface between the fabric and the rubber. In this study, the fabric is immersed in an alkaline solution first and a coupling agent in sequence with ultrasonic treatment. Then, fabric rubber composites with high bonding strength between fabric and rubber are prepared through a co-vulcanization process. The adhesion mechanism between the fabric and the rubber is analyzed through Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR), Raman spectrum, contact angle test and peel test. The adhesion strengths of samples treated by KH570 along warp and weft direction of fabric reach 8.0\xa0N·mm-1 and 4.82\xa0N·mm-1, respectively, which are 10.35 times and 5.91 times higher than those of original fabric samples. This greatly improves the delamination resistance of fabric rubber composites under large strain and expands its application range.