Evaluation of degradation degree of artificially degraded silicone rubber surface by using surface discharge

To establish an evaluation technique of the degradation degree of silicone rubber (SiR) surfaces, we first fabricated artificially degraded SiR surfaces. The fabrication process consisted of 5 steps and a 1-cycle test required 24 h. We fabricated the degraded SiR surfaces by a 1-cycle or a 2-cycle test. Next, the artificially degraded SiR surface was exposed to surface discharge (SD). The hydrophobicity recovery time on artificially degraded SiR surface increased with the increase in SD treatment time. It was found that the degradation degree of the SiR surface can be evaluated by hydrophobicity recovery time after SD treatment.