Vectra® biphenol

Chemically all the currently commercial materials are linear aromatic esters. Xydar (3) is a terpolymer of, -biphenol, -hydroxyben2oic acid, and terephthahc acid. Vectra (4) is a copolymer of -hydroxyben2oic acid and 6-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid. 

The most common form is the nematic, a bimdle of parallel, long, rodlike molecules. Additional cooling to the primary transition temperature, T leads to solidification into a solid crystalline phase (small crystallites). In the region between Tj and T , a liquid of very low viscosity prevails, in contrast to the high melt viscosity. The aromatic polyesters have high heat distortion temperatures (HDT). Vectra, composed of para-hydroxy-benzoic acid (PHBA) and para-hydroxy-naphtoic acid (PHNA), has an HDT of 180 C-240 C. Xy-dar, composed of PHBA, tera-phthalic acid and biphenol, has an even higher HDT of 260 C-350 C. 

Three commercially available thermotropic liquid crystalline polymers (TLCPs) were presented as examples in this section. They are Hoechst Celanese Vectra A950 and Vectra B950 as well as Amoco Xydar . Vectra A950 is a random copolymer of 73 mol% 4-hydroxybenzoic acid and 27 mol% 6-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid, and Vectra B950 is a random copolyesteramide consisting of 60 mol% of 6-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid, 20 mol% terephthalic acid, and 20 mol% p-aminophenol. Xydar is made from p-hydroxybenzoic acid, isophthalic and/or terephthalic acids, and 4,4 -biphenol. The repeating unit structures of the three LCPs are shown in Figure 6.2. 

The first melt-processable (later categorized as thermotropic liquid-crystalline) polymer, based on p-hydroxybenzoic acid and biphenol tereph-thalate, was reported by Steven Cottis in 1972. This polymer is now available on the market as Xydar . In 1973, the first well-characterized thermotropic polymer, a copolyester of p-hydroxybenzoic acid and ethylene terephthalate, was patented by Herbert Kuhfuss and W. Jerome Jackson (Eastman-Kodak Co., USA). They reported the discovery of liquid-crystalline behaviour in this polymer in 1976. At the beginning of the 1980s, the Celanese Company developed a family of processable thermotropic liquid crystalline polymers based on hydroxybenzoic acid and hydroxynaphthoic acid, later named Vectra . 

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