SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A FLUORINATED POLY(IMIDE SILOXANE) COPOLYMER - A STUDY OF PHYSICAL-PROPERTIES AND MORPHOLOGY

Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) have been used to characterize the physical properties and morphology of a series of poly(imide-siloxane) copolymers. These copolymers based on DAPI-6F contain either a short bis(aminopropyl) terminated siloxane monomer or oligomer. The results show that the copolymers containing the oligomeric segments are phase separated. The SAXS results indicate that the domain size of the poly(dimethylsiloxane) segment is independent of the siloxane-to-imide ratio. However, the DMA results show that the high temperature maximum in E'', herein defined as T(g) of the imide phase, decreases with an increasing amount of the oligomeric siloxane. It is suggested that the depression of T(g) may be the result of lowering of the molecular weight of the imide segments.