Fluorosilicone rubber, a high-performance specialty silicone rubber, combines the exceptional high and low-temperature resistance of methyl silicone rubber with the superior solvent and fuel resistance of fluororubber. This unique combination makes it the sole sealing material capable of withstanding oil exposure within a temperature range of -50°C to 230°C, leading to its widespread use in oil-resistant sealing applications across aerospace, aviation, automotive, and marine industries. However, the mechanical properties and radiation resistance of fluorosilicone rubber were relatively inferior to those of other rubbers, significantly limiting its potential for broader applications.

To address these challenges, the silicone materials research group from the School of Materials Science and Engineering recently developed a novel fluorosilicone rubber using a mutually reinforcing strategy. This material demonstrated exceptional radiation resistance when exposed to 300 kGy γ-ray irradiation for extended periods. The resistance is attributed to the efficient scavenging of active free radicals generated during irradiation by the incorporated nanomaterials, thereby reducing damage to the rubber. Additionally, the ion-dipole interactions between the trifluoromethyl dipoles in the fluorosilicone rubber and the nanomaterials enhanced the stability of the nanomaterials, significantly improving the mechanical performance of the composite fluorosilicone rubber under high-energy radiation. The research group employed this rubber as an X-ray imaging detector material, achieving a spatial resolution of 19.0 lp mm⁻¹ and a detection limit of 3.78 µGy s⁻¹, offering a novel perspective for fluorosilicone rubber applications in high-energy irradiation environments. This study, titled "Ultra Stable X-ray Imaging through a Mutually Reinforcing Strategy between Perovskite Nanocrystal-Polymethyltrifluoropropylsiloxane", was published in Advanced Functional Materials (2024, 2418944). This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation Joint Fund, and the Shandong Major Innovation Projects.

The Silicone Materials Research Group has long been dedicated to the study of fluorosilicone rubber. In previous work, the group successfully developed a novel high-tensile-strength fluorosilicone rubber through stereochemical structure regulation and elucidated the mechanisms of filler interface effects on the oil resistance of fluorosilicone rubber. These findings have been published in Polymer Chemistry (2024, 15, 3406) and Polymer (2024, 308, 127428).