Thermoset Resin System Comprising Low Intrinsic Viscosity Telechelic Poly(arylene ether) and Applications

Hua Guo ¹, Ed Peters ¹, Lakshmikant S. Powale ²

¹  SABIC Innovative Plastics, US, LLC, One Noryl Avenue, Selkirk, NY 12158 USA

² GE India Technology Centre, EPIP Phase II, Hoodi Village, Whitefield Road,  

   Bangalore-560 066, India.

1. INTRODUCTION

Poly(arylene)ethers are a well-known class of polymers with a unique combination of useful properties such as high glass transition temperature, dimensional stability, intrinsic ductility, hydro-stability, chemical resistance, inherent flame retardancy, low shrinkage, and outstanding electrical properties over a wide temperature and frequency range. The most widely available poly(arylene)ether is poly- (2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene ether) sold by SABIC Innovative Plastics (previously, GE Plastics) under its PPO Resin® brand name. This material, generically abbreviated as PPE, is also referred to as poly(2,6- dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide). Commercially available grades of PPE are of fairly high molecular weight resulting in high melt viscosity that requires a high processing temperature (often at least 280^oC). These same PPE resins tend to have low solubility (particularly at room temperature) in solvents due to their high molecular weight, limiting their usefulness in application areas such as electronic packaging (including: printed circuit board/PCB, chip-encapsulation, and Vanish-coating), powder-coating, film, structure composites.   Therefore, it is highly desirable to develop a novel PPE resin that requires lower melt processing temperatures and that are soluble in solvents at room temperature with acceptable condensation curing behaviors.

This paper describes a thermsetable resin system comprising a low intrinsic viscosity telechelic Poly(arylene ether) and Applications.  It provides details on ingredients that are useful in formulating materials for such applications. Additionally, illustrative formulation recipes of the low intrinsic viscosity telechelic Poly(arylene ether) with an other thermsetable resin (such as Epoxy and Cyanate-ester) and physical properties are discussed.  Examples of this low intrinsic viscosity telechelic Poly(arylene ether) may include MX90 (SA90) resin, MX60 (SA60) resin and their derivatives from SABIC Innovative Plastics.  Examples of this low intrinsic viscosity telechelic Poly(arylene ether) may also include “OPE (Oligo-Polyphenylene ether)” resin and its derivatives from Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company. 

2. MAIN COMPONENTS

As mentioned earlier, materials for preparing   thermoset resin system such as PCBs etc, epoxy and cyanate ester resin compositions have popularly been used. However, when a epoxy resin or a cyanate ester resin alone is used, a cured product is too hard and is fragile so that it has...