Flexible coil molecules, reinforcement

Molecular composites as an extension of fiber reinforcement Molecular composites is designed to use rigid rodlike molecules as reinforcement for the flexible coil molecules as matrix. The patent applications on the molecular composites were made almost in the same age independently by Takayanagi in Japan in 1977 and by Helminiak in the United States in 1978. Takayanagi proposed thermoplastic nylon reinforced by poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide)(PPTA) and Helminiak proposed wet process using poly(p-phenylene benzobisthiazole)(PBT)-reinforced poly(2,5(6)benzimidazole) (ABPBI). In molecular composite (MC) [15,16,17], the fineness of reinforcement was pursued to its limit, i.e. to the molecular dimension. 

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