Due to their polymer networks, nanocomposites are mainly used in those applications where
traditional networks are not able to meet the needs satisfactorily. One of the goals of this study is,
therefore, to develop a process that would enable the manufacture of silicone polymer networks with
improved mechanical, elastic and thermal properties. The motivation behind this goal was the desire
to develop new composite materials with unique mechanical, or thermo-mechanical properties that
would allow silicone materials to be used in a wider range of applications. The paper analyzes the
influence of the siloxane matrix structure and addition of nanofillers on the mechanical properties of
siloxane elastomers. The focus of the study is the influence of possible interactions between the fillers
and polymer matrices at the supramolecular levelon the mechanical properties of siloxanes. It can be
concluded that the addition of nanosilicon(IV)oxide leads to the increase in tensile strengths of the
samples, where the increase is more significant at higher filler loadings, that is, the samples with 5
wt% of the filler. The elongation at break also increases with the addition of the filler, so that the
fillers, along with increasing the strength, increased the elasticity of the siloxane materials. The focus
of the study was to investigate the influence of nanoparticles on the properties of elastomeric materials
based on different siloxane precursors. FTIR spectroscopy confirmed the presumed structure of the
polysiloxane and the obtained siloxane elastomeric nanocomposites. It was found that the addition of
silicon(IV)oxide nanoparticles leads to an increase in hardness and tensile strength of the siloxane
elastomers.
