KINETICS OF IMIDIZATION OF POLY (AMIC ACID) IN MISCIBLE AND IMMISCIBLE POLYMER BLENDS

Blends of commercial poly (amic acid), LARC-PAA polymer were prepared with thermoplastic polyimide P84. The blends were shown to be miscible over a certain composition range. Chemical imidization of LARC-PAA in the blends leads to phase separation. Thermal imidization of LARC PAA in the blends was carried out in the solid state. Miscible compositions of the blend remained miscible after imidization and showed a single glass transition for each blend. Immiscible compositions after imidization remained immiscible and showed two glass transition temperatures in the DSC scans. The kinetics of thermal imidization of PAA to polyimide (PI) in the solid state were studied using FTIR. In the immiscible blend the kinetics remained unaffected while in the miscible state the rate of imidization became faster than that of the pure PAA.