m-Xylylene bismaleimide: a versatile building block for high-performance thermosets

m-Xylylene bismaleimide, Compimide MXBI (hereafter MXBI), was developed as a building block for formulating bismaleimide resins with improved processability. MXBI on its own, or in combination with 4,4-bismaleimidodiphenylmethane (Compimide MDAB, hereafter MDAB) and with 2,2-diallylbisphenol-A as a co-monomer, provides very low-melting resin blends, which can be processed at temperatures around 60-80 degrees C via RTM (Resin Transfer Moulding), VARIM (Vacuum Assisted Resin Infusion Moulding), prepregging, and wet filament winding (FW). Uncured and cured resin properties were evaluated. The mechanical property spectrum of the MXBI/MDAB/diallylbisphenol-A system with varying MXBI/MDAB ratio shows almost equivalent contributions of MXBI and MDAB to the mechanical properties of a system. Higher MXBI proportions are responsible for lower resin viscosities and hence superior processability. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.