RODLIKE FLEXIBLE POLYIMIDE COMPOSITE FILMS PREPARED FROM SOLUBLE POLY(AMIC DIETHYL ESTER) PRECURSORS - MISCIBILITY, STRUCTURE, AND PROPERTIES

Homogeneous precursor/precursor solutions with various compositions were obtained with appreciably high solid contents in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone from soluble poly(amic diethyl ester) precursors of rodlike poly(p-phenylene biphenyltetracarboximide) (BPDA-PDA) and flexible poly(4,4'-oxydiphenylene biphenyltetracarboximide) (BPDA-ODA), which are hy drolytically more stable as well as more soluble than the corresponding poly(amic acid)s being equilibrated with the constituent monomers. Both optical microscopic and light scattering measurements showed that the dried precursor blend films and resultant polyimide composite films were optically transparent, regardless of compositions and process conditions. The composite films showed a single T-g behavior. However, for the composite of 30 wt% BPDA-PDA dispersed in the matrix of 70 wt% BPDA-ODA, a smectic crystalline-like aggregation of the BPDA-PDA component was detected on wide-angle x-ray diffraction patterns, indicative of microscopic phase separation between the two components. This phase separation was not detected on the optical microscopy, light scattering, and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis because of their resolution limits: Optical microscopy has a resolution of submicrometers, whereas dynamic mechanical thermal analysis and light scattering have a resolution of ca. 50 Angstrom. Therefore, it is speculated that in the composite films BPDA-PDA and BPDA-ODA polyimide molecules have demixed on the scale of a few nanometers. The mean long periodicity, which was estimated from the small-angle x-ray scattering pattern, varied from 134 to 170 Angstrom as the content of BPDA-ODA component increased. In addition, mechanical properties of the composite films were characterized. (C) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.