Journal of Rheology, Vol.43, No.2, 305-314, 1999
Shear elasticity and yield stress of silica-silicone physical gels: Fractal approach
The elastoplastic behavior of silica-silicone compounds has been characterized by a yield stress sigma(s) and an elastic modulus G(0). Scaling laws have been established for the changes in rheometrical parameters with the volume fraction Phi(v) of silica: sigma(s) proportional to (Phi(v))(3.3) and G(0) proportional to (Phi(v))(4.2) and single master curves have been obtained whatever the silica type used. The mesoscopic structure of the compounds has been studied using x-ray and light scattering and a semidilute fractal structure has been observed, with a fractal dimension D approximate to 1.8 and a characteristic length scale 4 mu m. In this paper, a formulation of the nonfluctuating semidilute fractal concept allows us to relate the fractal dimension to the rheological scaling laws: sigma(s) proportional to (Phi(v))(4/(3-D)) and G(0) proportional to (Phi(v))(5/(3-D)).