(227f) Cyanate Ester/Trisilanolphenyl-Poss Nanocomposites

Cyanate ester (PT-15, Lonza Corp) composites containing the blended polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS), TriSilanolPhenyl-POSS (C42H38O12Si7), were prepared containing PT-15/POSS 99/1, 97/3, 95/5, 90/10 and 85/15 w/w ratios. The composites were characterized by FT-IR, X-ray diffraction (XRD), small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (X-EDS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). TriSilanolPhenyl-POSS was throughly dispersed into uncured liquid PT-15 resin. After curing, XRD, SANS and X-EDS measurements were consistant with partial molecular dispersion of a portion of the POSS units in the continuous matrix phase while the remainder forms POSS aggregates. Larger aggregates are formed at higher loadings. SANS, SEM and TEM show that POSS–enriched nanoparticles are present in the PT-15/POSS composites.