A novel low colored and transparent shape memory copolyimide and its durability in space thermal cycling environments

Sustainable, High-Performance, and Biodegradable Plastics Made from Chitin

A high-performance biodegradable plastic was made from a chitin KOH/urea solution. The solution was transferred into a hydrogel by cross-linking using epichlorohydrin and ethanol immersion, and a chitin bioplastic was finally prepared by drying in a mold at 40 °C. The solution concentration positively impacts viscosity, crystallinity, and smoothness. A 4% chitin bioplastic exhibits high barrier properties, flame retardancy, high-temperature resistance, mechanical properties (tensile strength up to 107.1 MPa), and soil degradation properties. The chitin bioplastic can be completely degraded by microorganisms in 7 weeks. In addition, biosafety tests suggest that chitin is safe for cells and crops (wheat and mung beans). The chitin bioplastic was further applied to containers, straws, cups, and photoprotection, and it was found that the water resistance and transparency were comparable to those of commercial polypropylene plastics. Due to the excellent performance, safety, and sustainability of the chitin bioplastic, it is expected to become a good substitute for conventional fossil fuel-based plastics.

Colorless Polyimides Derived from an Alicyclic Tetracarboxylic Dianhydride, CpODA

An alicyclic tetracarboxylic dianhydride having cyclopentanone bis-spironorbornane structure (CpODA) was polycondensated with aromatic dianhydrides to form the corresponding poly(amic acid)s which possessed logarithmic viscosities in the range 1.47–0.54 dL/g. The poly(amic acid) was imidized by three methods: a chemical, a thermal, and a combined chemical and thermal process. In a thermal method, imidization temperature markedly influenced the film quality and molecular weight of the polyimide. When the poly(amic acid) was cured over the Tg of the corresponding polyimide, the flexible polyimide films were obtained and the molecular weights increased several times, which means that the post-polymerization took place. In spite of low-temperature cure below Tg flexible films with the imidization ratio of 100% were fabricated by a combined chemical and thermal imidization technique. The films possessed the decomposition temperatures in a range of 475–501 °C and Tgs over 330 °C. The high Tg results from a dipole–dipole interaction between the keto groups of the polymer chains as well as development of the rigid polyalicyclic unit. The polyimide films exhibited CTE between 17 and 57 ppm/K. All the films fabricated were entirely colorless and possessed the λcut-offs shorter than 337 nm. Notably, the films prepared by a chemical method exhibited outstanding optical properties.

Reduced Coefficients of Linear Thermal Expansion of Colorless and Transparent Semi-Alicyclic Polyimide Films via Incorporation of Rigid-Rod Amide Moiety: Preparation and Properties

Semi-alicyclic colorless and transparent polyimide (CPI) films usually suffer from the high linear coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) due to the intrinsic thermo-sensitive alicyclic segments in the polymers. A series of semi-alicyclic CPI films containing rigid-rod amide moieties were successfully prepared in the current work in order to reduce the CTEs of the CPI films while maintaining their original optical transparency and solution-processability. For this purpose, two alicyclic dianhydrides, hydrogenated pyromellitic anhydride (HPMDA, I), and hydrogenated 3,3',4,4'-biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride (HBPDA, II) were polymerized with two amide-bridged aromatic diamines, 2-methyl-4,4'-diaminobenzanilide (MeDABA, a) and 2-chloro-4,4'-diaminobenzanilide (ClDABA, b) respectively to afford four CPI resins. The derived CPI resins were all soluble in polar aprotic solvents, including N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc). Flexible and tough CPI films were successfully prepared by casing the PI solutions onto glass substrates followed by thermally cured at elevated temperatures from 80 °C to 250 °C. The MeDABA derived PI-I_a (HPMDA-MeDABA) and PI-II_a (HBPDA-MeDABA) exhibited superior optical transparency compared to those derived from ClDABA (PI-I_b and PI-II_b). PI-I_a and PI-II_a showed the optical transmittances of 82.3% and 85.8% at the wavelength of 400 nm with a thickness around 25 μm, respectively. Introduction of rigid-rod amide moiety endowed the HPMDA-PI films good thermal stability at elevated temperatures with the CTE values of 33.4 × 10^-6/K for PI-I_a and 27.7 × 10^-6/K for PI-I_b in the temperature range of 50-250 °C. Comparatively, the HBPDA-PI films exhibited much higher CTE values. In addition, the HPMDA-PI films exhibited good thermal stability with the 5% weight loss temperatures (T_5%) higher than 430 °C and glass transition temperatures (T_g) in the range of 349-351 °C.

Transparent, High Glass-Transition Temperature, Shape Memory Hybrid Polyimides Based on Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane

Optically transparent polyimides with excellent thermal stability and shape memory effect have potential applications in optoelectronic devices and aerospace industries. A series of optically transparent shape memory polyimide hybrid films are synthesized from 2,2-bis(3,4-dicarboxyphenyl)hexafluoropropane dianhydride (6FDA) and 2,2′-bis-(trifluoromethyl)biphenyl-4,4′-diamine (TFMB) with various polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) contents and then subjected to thermal imidization. The hybrid films show good optical transparency (>80% at 400 nm and >95% at 500 nm) with cutoff wavelengths ranging from 318 to 336 nm. Following the incorporation of the inorganic POSS structure, the hybrid films exhibit excellent thermal stability with glass transition temperature (T_g) ranging from 351 to 372 °C. The hybrid films possess the highest T_g compared with the previously-reported shape memory polymers. These findings show that POSS is successfully utilized to develop transparent polyimides with excellent thermal stability and shape memory effect.