Structure-property relationship of vinyl-terminated oligo(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene ether)s (OPEs): Seeking an OPE with better properties

Characterization of Mechanical, Electrical and Thermal Properties of Bismaleimide Resins Based on Different Branched Structures

Bismaleimide (BMI) resin is an excellent performance resin, mainly due to its resistance to the effect of heat and its insulating properties. However, its lack of toughness as a cured product hampers its application in printed circuit boards (PCBs). Herein, a branched structure via Michael addition was introduced to a BMI system to reinforce its toughness. Compared with a pure BMI sample, the flexural strength of the modified BMI was enhanced, and its maximum value of 189 MPa increased by 216%. The flexural modulus of the cured sample reached 5.2 GPa. Using a scanning electron microscope, the fracture surfaces of BMI samples and a transition from brittle fracture to ductile fracture were observed. Furthermore, both the dielectric constant and the dielectric loss of the cured resin decreased. The breakdown field strength was raised to 37.8 kV/mm and the volume resistivity was improved to varying degrees. Consequently, the resulting modified BMI resin has the potential for wide application in high-frequency and low-dielectric resin substrates, and the modified BMI resin with a structure including three different diamines can meet the needs of various applications.

Tetrafluorophenylene-Containing Vinylbenzyl Ether-Terminated Oligo(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene ether) with Better Thermal, Dielectric, and Flame-Retardant Properties for Application in High-Frequency Communication

In an integrated circuit, signal propagation loss is proportional to the frequency, dissipation factor (D _f), and square root of dielectric constant (D _k). The loss becomes obvious as we move to high-frequency communication. Therefore, a polymer having low D _k and D _f is critical for copper-clad laminates at higher frequencies. For this purpose, a 4-vinylbenzyl ether phenoxy-2,3,5,6-tetrafluorophenylene-terminated OPE (VT-OPE) resin was synthesized and its properties were compared with the thermoset of commercial OPE-2St resin. The thermoset of VT-OPE shows a higher T _g (242 vs 229 °C), a relatively high cross-linking density (1.59 vs 1.41 mmole cm^-3), a lower coefficient of thermal expansion (55 vs 76 ppm/°C), better dielectric characteristic at 10 GHz (D _k values of 2.58 vs 2.75, D _f values of 0.005 vs 0.006), lower water absorption (0.135 vs 0.312 wt %), and better flame retardancy (UL-94 VTM-0 vs VTM-1 with dropping seriously) than the thermoset of OPE-2St. To verify the practicability of VT-OPE for copper-clad laminate, a laboratory process was also performed to prepare a copper-clad laminate, which shows a high peeling strength with copper foil (5.5 lb/in), high thermal reliability with a solder dipping test at 288 °C (>600 s), and the time for delamination of the laminate in thermal mechanical analysis (TMA) at 288 °C is over 60 min.

Effects of Peroxide Initiator on the Structure and Properties of Ultralow Loss Thermosetting Polyphenylene Oxide-Based Composite

Although thermosetting polyphenylene oxide- (PPO) based composites with excellent dielectric properties have been widely accepted as superior resin matrices of high-performance copper clad laminate (CCL) for 5G network devices, there has been limited information regarding the composition–process–structure–property relationships of the systems. In this work, the effects of peroxide initiator concentration on the structure and dielectric properties of a free radical cured ultralow loss PPO/Triallyl isocyanate (TAIC) composite system were studied. As expected, the glass transition temperature (T_g) and storage modulus increased with the advancing of crosslinking, whereas the dielectric loss showed an “abnormal” rise with the increase in crosslink density. Extensive studies were carried out by varying the initiator contents and characterizing the structure with spectroscopy, thermal analysis, and positron annihilation lifetime spectrum (PALS) techniques. The results show that the competition of polarity, crosslink density, free volume, and free TAIC are the key factors determining the dielectric properties of the composites.