Hydrothermal effects on cured cyanate ester resin modified by poly vinyl pyrrolidone

Poly vinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) was employed to improve the toughness of bisphenol A dicyanate ester resin. Hydrothermal performance of the modified systems was systematically studied. Moisture takeup of the cured resins increased with the increasing of the weight percentage of PVP. Mechanical properties of the modified systems were largely improved by the introducing of PVP. The residual flexural and impact strength after ageing were improved from 38.8% and 35.5% to 86.8% and 66.1% respectively when 5 wt% of PVP were introduced. On the same time, however, the introducing of PVP had little influence on the thermal performance, dielectric properties and shape stability. The modified system with 5 wt% PVP showed the best performance overall.