The damage effect of methyl silicone rubber reinforced with MQtype silicone resin which composed of monofunctional siliconoxygen unit and tetrafunctional siliconoxygen unit under 150 keV proton radiation was studied using space combined radiation simulator.The experimental results show that there were aging cracks appearing on the surface of the rubber after irradiation.With a lower irradiation fluence(<1014 cm-2),the hardness and tensile strength of the rubber increase;the elongation at break decreases;the storage modulus at lower temperatures increases;the glass-transition temperature moves to higher temperature band,the Si—O content increases;the main damage of the silicone rubber is caused by the crosslinking effect.While with a higher irradiation fluence(>1014 cm-2),the hardness and tensile strength of the rubber decrease,the elongation at break increases,the storage modulus at lower temperatures decreases,the glass-transition temperature moves to lower temperature band,the Si—O content decreases,the main damage of the silicone rubber is caused by the degradation effect.A mass loss of the silicone rubber can be caused by the proton irradiation because the volatile substances generated by the degradation of silicone rubber subjected to proton irradiation can be extracted in the high vacuum environment.
