Cure reaction and phase behavior of liquid crystalline epoxides-anhydride systems

A series of novel liquid crystalline epoxides with lateral substituents were cured with anhydrides and the cure kinetics was investigated by non-isothermal DSC technique. The results showed that the lengths of lateral substituents have great effect on the value of Ea. The curing reaction became less active, when the liquid crystalline epoxides have long lateral substituents and were controlled by diffusion at the late stage of cure. A nematic structure was observed by POM and XRD.

Intrinsic high thermal conductive liquid crystal epoxy film simultaneously combining with excellent intrinsic self-healing performance

One kind of side chain liquid crystal epoxy(S-LCE) based on biphenyl mesomorphic unit is synthesized from 2,2-bis(hydroxymethyl)propionic acid,4-phenyl phenol,and epichlorohydrin.And the intrinsic thermal conductive liquid crystal epoxy film(LCEF) simultaneously combining with intrinsic self-healing performance is then prepared via thiol-epoxide nucleophilic ring-opening reaction and coating method.1 H NMR and FTIR show that S-LCE and LCEF have been successfully prepared.S-LCE presents nematic liquid crystal from room temperature to 160℃.LCEF maintains nematic liquid crystal performance and shows highly intrinsic thermal conductivity & excellent self-healing performance.Thermal conductivity coefficient(λ)values in vertical direction(λ⊥)and parallel direction(λ‖)of LCEF are 0.33 and 1.25 W/mK,re spectively,much higher than that of general bisphenol A epoxy resin(E-51,λ⊥ of 0.19 W/mK and λ‖ of0.65 W/mK).Tensile strength of LCEF is 10.6 MPa,which can maintain at 90.6 % and 61.3 % after one and four cycles of self-healing behavior,respectively.In addition,LCEF presents a wide service temperature range(-9.8-251℃) and good thermal stability(THRI of 148.5℃).Simultaneously,LCEF has good transparency,flexibility,and tailorability,expected to be utilized in the fields of flexible electronic devices and intelligent structures.