Alcoholysis of Silicone Rubber Waste: A Method for Efficiently Recycling Silicone Rubber Waste and Preparing Multifunctional Rubber Additive

Silicone rubber waste was effectively degraded into liquid siloxane derivatives by using a green solvothermal alcoholysis method under mild conditions. The resulting products primarily comporised linear oligomers (P₁, P₂) and cyclic species (D₃, D₉), with composition significantly influenced by alcoholysis parameters. Systemmatic invesitgation revealed alcoholysis agents as critical determinants of product profiles, demonstrating marked differences indegradation outcomes across reagent types. Given their structural similarity to traditional coupling agents, liquid siloxane derivatives were employed as addtives in nirtile butadiene rubber/silica composites to enhance interfacial bonding and mechanical properties. The results showed the obtained liquid siloxane derivatives can not only act as a silane coupling agent, increasing tensile strength and elongation at break but also function as a plasticizer, obviously enhancing the processing properties and cold resistance of the rubber/silica composites. This study develops an efficient stragety for synthesizing multifunctional rubber addtives and enabling complete silicone rubber waste degradation through solvothermal alcoholysis under mild conditions.