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Behavior of volatile depletion for LaRC™‐PETI‐5 amide acid/ N ‐methylpyrrolidinone solution
Author(s) -
Hou T. H.,
Costen R. C.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.12865
Subject(s) - fabrication , materials science , polyamide , dielectric , polyimide , thermogravimetric analysis , composite number , composite material , solvent , dielectric loss , chemical engineering , polymer chemistry , organic chemistry , chemistry , medicine , optoelectronics , pathology , layer (electronics) , engineering , alternative medicine
The fabrication of composites from polyimide precursors (polyamide acids) that involve condensation reactions requires the removal of volatiles (solvent and reaction by‐products) prior to consolidation in order to achieve a void‐free laminate. Volatile removal is commonly accomplished with a B‐stage processing step. In this study, a PETAA/NMP ( p henyl e thynyl t erminated a mide a cid in N ‐methylpyrrolidinone) solution and prepreg were characterized using therogravimetric analysis (TGA) and microdielectrometry. A master weight loss profile was constructed by superimposing measurements at various heating rates. The TGA results correlated well with the dielectric ionic conductivities. Under the same thermal conditions, volatiles were depleted at slower rates from the wet prepreg than the neat resin solution. Dielectric properties were more sensitive to the residual volatile contents than the TGA measurements in both the neat resin and wet prepreg. Dielectric sensing technology was demonstrated to be a feasible tool for future volatile management in the fabrication of PETI composites. This study demonstrates that the combination of TGA and dielectrometry provides useful information to develop proper processing conditions for composite fabrication from prepregs containing volatiles. © Published 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 90: 1906–1916, 2003