Thermal and mechanical properties of tetra-functional mesogenic type epoxy resin cured with aromatic amine

A novel tetra-functional epoxy monomer with mesogenic groups was synthesized and characterized by H-1-NMR and FTIR. The synthesized epoxy monomer was cured with aromatic amine to improve the thermal property of epoxy/amine cured system. The glass transition temperature (T-g) and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the cured system were investigated by dynamic mechanical analysis and thermal mechanical analysis. The properties of the cured system were compared with the conventional bisphenol-A type epoxy and mesogenic type epoxy system. The storage modulus of the tetra-functional mesogenic epoxy cured systems showed the value of 0.96 GPa at 250 degrees C, and T-g-less behavior was clearly observed. The cured system also showed a low CTE at temperatures above 150 degrees C without incorporation of inorganic components. These phenomena were achieved by suppression of the thermal motion of network chains by introduction of both mesogenic groups and branched structure to increase the cross linking density. The temperature dependency of the tensile property and thermal conductivity of the cured system was also investigated. (c) 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 46181.