Flame retardancy and flame retarding mechanism of high performance hyperbranched polysiloxane modified bismaleimide/cyanate ester resin

A novel kind of modified bismaleimide/cyanate ester (BCE) resins by copolymerizing with hyperbranched polysiloxane including high content of phenyl (HBPSi) was first reported. The effect of HBPSi on the curing mechanism, and that on the dielectric properties and flame retardancy of cured networks were systemically investigated. Results show that compared with BCE resin, HBPSi/BCE resin has obviously different cross-linked structure, and thus leading to simultaneously improved dielectric properties and flame retardancy. The reactions between HBPSi and the decomposition structure of BCE resin change the thermo-oxidative degradation mechanism of the first step in the thermo-oxidative degradation; in addition, the presence of HBPSi in BCE resin also significantly reduces the mass loss rate (MLR) and increases char yield at 800 degrees C under an air atmosphere. Therefore, the positive effect of HBPSi on improving the flame retardancy is attributed to the condensed phase mechanism. On the other hand, HBPSi/BCE resins exhibit improved dielectric properties (including decreased dielectric constant and loss) with increasing the content of HBPSi. More importantly, this investigation demonstrates that designing new polysiloxane with suitable chemical structure is important to develop high performance resins with attractive flame retardancy and dielectric properties. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.