AbstractWe investigated the effect of polyvinylsilicone oil (C gum) as a crosslinker and 2,5‐bis(tert‐butyl peroxy)‐2,5‐dimethyl hexane (DBPMH) as a curing agent on the conductivity of conductive silicone rubber with two different kinds of conducting mechanisms. The experimental results show that the volume resistivity of conductive silicone rubber changed with its degree of crosslinking. When the carbon black loading was 25 parts per hundred rubber (phr) and a completely continuous conducting network had not formed, the volume resistivity of the vulcanizates decreased with increasing crosslink density. The volume resistivity of the vulcanizate with a suitable amount of C gum decreased to 53%, and the tensile strength increased by 0.8 MPa compared to the vulcanizate without C gum. When the carbon black loading was 40 phr and a completely continuous conducting network had formed, the crosslink density of vulcanizates changed as the amount of DBPMH changed. The volume resistivity of vulcanizates first decreased and then increased with increasing crosslink density. There was a valley value in the resistivity–crosslink density curve. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 89: 3471–3475, 2003