Abstract
This research focuses on novel polymeric blends containing cyanate esters, a high performance thermoset known for its thermal stability, low moisture uptake and excellent electrical performance. Cyanate esters have found application in numerous areas where performance in extreme environments is required. Aerospace, medicine, energy production and high powered computing are just a selection of industries that exploit the idiosyncratic properties held by cyanate esters, yet for the continued development and advancement of technology, improvements are consistently sought after. The overall aim of this research is to develop blends that build on and improve upon the already high performance properties held by cyanate ester homopolymers. A systematic approach has been adopted that goes about achieving this aim; firstly the blending of binary cyanate polymers has been investigated to produce a set of novel blends with reaction kinetics and thermo-mechanical performance a main area of investigation. The research has looked for improvements in hot/wet performance with the role of catalysis and heating rates studied. Moisture absorption experiments through both elevated humidity and direct immersion tests have yielded data that provide an insight into the mode of water uptake in binary cyanate ester blends. With a reduction in outgassing observed for one binary blend [(3)90(2)10] which is a major improvement upon the typical outgassing observed for either homopolymer. Following the initial studies of binary cyanate ester blends, the research focusses on blends between cyanate ester and another high performance polymer, bismaleimide. BT resins have been analysed for their reaction mechanism and novel materials produced displaying excellent thermo-mechanical properties. In parallel to empirical studies computational modelling has been performed in two methods ultimately producing accurate predictions of the main thermal transitions of Tg and Td for novel blends as well as accurately simulating degree of moisture uptake.