The role of carbon nanotubes in both physical and chemical liquid-solid transition of polydimethylsiloxane

► Rheological study of the liquid-solid transitions (LST) of PDMS with dispersion degree of MWNTs. ► Physical LST shows a strong dependence on the dispersion degree and formation of an interconnected network. ► MWNTs act as “effective physical cross-links” and affect the dynamic viscoelastic properties. ► MWNTs speed up the chemical LST and increase the cross-linking density of the composite samples. ► MWNTs can provide additional sources of entanglements or physical cross-links in polymer networks.