Polyimides drawbacks

Epoxies are the most commonly used adhesives (qv). Silver and gold are sometimes added to an epoxy to improve its thermal conductivity. Polyimide, also used as an adhesive, has low shrinkage as well as low viscosity and can be cured at 180°C its primary drawback is a tendency to absorb water, as much as 6% by weight. 

Additional drawbacks to the use of polyimide insulators for the fabrication of multilevel structures include self- or auto-adhesion. It has been demonstrated that the interfacial strength of polyimide layers sequentially cast and cured depends on the interdiffusion between layers, which in turn depends on the cure time and temperature for both the first layer (Tj) and the combined first and second layers (T2) [3]. In this work, it was shown that unusually high diffusion distances ( 200 nm) were required to achieve bulk strength [3]. For T2 > Tj, the adhesion decreased with increasing T. However, for T2 < Tj and Tj 400 °C, the adhesion between the layers was poor irrespective of T2. Consequently, it is of interest to combine the desirable characteristics of polyimide with other materials in such a way as to produce a low stress, low dielectric constant, self-adhering material with the desirable processabiHty and mechanical properties of polyimide. 

An alternative means of reducing the dielectric constant of polyimides is to have a low dielectric constant component dispersed as a second phase within the rigid polyimide matrix. Two key approaches have been pursued to this end. The first involves the preparation of polyimide block copolymers with highly fluorinated coblocks and the second involves the generation of a polyimide foam. The main drawback to the first approach is the solubility of highly fluorinated blocks in organic media which will permit copolymerization with polyimides. This led to the investigation of new semi-fluorinated polymers derived from polyfaryl ethers). 

Polystyrene-based resins have been used widely as supports for metal complex catalysts and other reactive species. These polymers, however, have a drawback in their limited thermo-oxidative stability [1,2]. The scope for application is therefore restricted, particularly in polymer-supported transition metal complex oxidation catalysts [3]. Consequently there is a need for the development of polymer supports with a much higher intrinsic thermo-oxidative stability. Polybenzimidazoles and polyimides are likely candidates in this respect. 

A particular drawback of the polyimides is that they have limited resistance to hydrolysis and may crack in water or steam at temperatures above 100°C. Consequently, polyimides have encountered competition from polyetheretherketones (PEEK), which are not only superior in this regard but are also easier to mold. 

Table V makes a comparison of the mechanical properties of Col fibers with those of the pure PI and PBTA fibers. For the sake of possessing poor solubility, polyimide fibers have once generally spun fi-om solutions of their precusor, polyamic acid, following a heat treatment for thermal imidization. In general, micropores and voids exist in polyamic acid fibers. Although many coagulation media have been investigated to prevent this drawback, the production of totally void-fi ee aromatic polyamic add fibers was not found.

Polyimides are engineering thermoplastics v ch are used v en high quality parts and performance are required (1). The main drawback of these materials. 

One drawback with addition-type polymers is that the cured adhesive tends to be brittle. Attempts to toughen addition polyimides have met with some success, though improvements in this area are needed. The development of systems exhibiting the same level of toughness as today s state-of-the-art epoxy adhesives is a goal for the future. 

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