Preparation and characterization of POSS-SiO₂/cyanate ester composites with high performance

In this article, a hybrid filler based on polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane and silica, coded as POSS-SiO₂, has been successfully synthesized. The structure of POSS-SiO₂ was studied by Fourier-transform infrared spectra, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. Then the POSS-SiO₂ was compounded with dicyclopentadiene bisphenol dicyanate ester (DCPDCE) resin to prepare composites. The effects of POSS-SiO₂ on the curing reaction, mechanical, thermal, dielectric and tribological properties of DCPDCE resin were investigated systematically. Results of differential scanning calorimetry show that the addition of POSS-SiO₂ can facilitate the curing reaction of DCPDCE and decrease the curing temperature of DCPDCE. Compared with pure DCPDCE resin, the impact and flexural strengths of the composites materials are improved markedly with up to 72 and 52% increasing magnitude, respectively. Meanwhile, the POSS-SiO₂/DCPDCE systems exhibit lower dielectric constant and loss than pure DCPDCE resin over the testing frequency from 10 to 60 MHz. In addition, the thermal stability and tribological properties of POSS-SiO₂/DCPDCE composites are also superior to that of pure DCPDCE resin. POLYM. COMPOS., 36:1840-1848, 2015.