Rubber for Mars: Optimization of BR/VMQ compounds

Rafal Piotr Anyszka, Norbert Nizel, Magdalena Maciejewska, Dariusz M. Bielinski, Li Jia, Anke Blume

Research output: Contribution to conferenceAbstractAcademic

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Abstract

Mars attracts more and more attention as the most habitable near-Earth planet. However, Mars’ environment is much more hostile than Earth’s. The temperature ranges from -120°C to 20°C. There is no ozone layer and magnetosphere to protect against UV and particulate radiation, and the pressure is much lower than on Earth. Because of this, the materials used on Mars must exhibit proper environmental resistance and the ability to preserve their performance in these challenging conditions. Rubber is one of the most unique and important materials used in engineering, because of its viscoelastic properties and high mechanical-dynamic performance. However, rubber is not used on Mars because of its limitations like the inability to preserve good viscoelastic properties in a broad range of temperatures, or unknown resistance to the radiation present on Mars. To overcome these limitations, this work aims to develop butadiene/silicone rubber (BR/VMQ) blends for the Mars environment. Both rubbers have the lowest glass transition temperature values of all elastomers, which makes them the most suitable ones to preserve elasticity at low temperatures. The designed blends are free of volatile ingredients to prevent outgassing on Mars. Also, simulated radiation aging and low-temperature performance are tested to foresee their long-term behavior. However, blending BR with VMQ is challenging because of their thermodynamic incompatibility. Also, the vulcanization of the blends is difficult due to the differences in the chemical structure of both elastomers. This paper aims to optimize the composition of the BR/VMQ compounds to maximize their performance in the Martian environment.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages21
Publication statusPublished - 18 Oct 2023
Event204th Technical Meeting of the Rubber Division ACS, 2023 - Cleveland, United States
Duration: 17 Oct 202319 Oct 2023
Conference number: 204

Conference

Conference204th Technical Meeting of the Rubber Division ACS, 2023
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityCleveland
Period17/10/2319/10/23

Keywords

  • rubber
  • Mars

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