The Study on Poly(ether sulfone) Modified Cyanate Ester Resin and Epoxy Resin Cocuring Blends

Poly(ether sulfone) terminated with phenolic hydroxyl groups modified cyanate ester resin and epoxy resin cocuring blends were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, rheometry, and mechanical properties measurement. The results suggested that poly (ether sulfone) (PES) could accelerate the polycyclotrimerization reaction of cyanate ester and cocuring processes between cyanate ester and epoxy of modified blends because of the presence of phenolic hydroxyl groups at the end of the PES molecules. It was found that the evolution of the morphologies and complex viscosities of the modified blends sensitive to molecular weight and content of PES, the tensile strength and elongation at break of the modified blends were correlated with the morphologies of modified blends. Moreover, the evolution of complex viscosities of the modified blends also showed an exponential growth at the early stage of phase separation, which demonstrated experimentally that the coarsening processes of droplets of bisphenol-A dicyanate and diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A and the final morphologies obtained in the blends modified with PES were affected by viscoelastic behavior. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 113: 60-70, 2009