Mechanical and Antibacterial Properties of Silicone Rubber Compounds Filled with Silver-Zirconium Phosphate Modified by Aluminate Coupling Agent.

In this paper, methyl vinyl silicone rubber vulcanizates were filled with silver-zirconium phosphate treated with aluminate coupling agent. The effect of the surface modification was characterized by the Fourier transform infrared and viscosity methods. The dispersion of silver-zirconium phosphate in ethanol and methyl vinyl silicone rubber was examined by the scanning electron micrograph. The cross-link density, mechanical properties, and antibacterial performance of methyl vinyl silicone rubber were analyzed. The results showed that the aluminate coupling agent significantly suppressed the agglomeration of silver-zirconium phosphate particles. The modification of silver-zirconium phosphate mitigated the degeneration of mechanical properties resulted from the addition of antimicrobials and had no negative effect on the antibacterial property. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]