The curing of dicyanate ester liquid crystalline thermosets

The attractive physical properties of cyanate ester resins make these materials an important class of high-performance polymer thermosets for applications such as electro-optic coatings and thin film dielectrics. Triazine networks have been used as insulating materials for over 25 years; however, in order to meet future requirements such materials must exhibit appropriate glass transition temperatures, high thermal stability, high moduli, good adhesion at elevated temperatures, low dielectric losses, and a low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). With our approach to thermoset design and processing we are able to directly control their mechanical and physical properties by curing new liquid crystalline cyanate ester resins in electric fields. Combining new LC materials with non-LC cyanate monomers leads to a variety of novel ordered network structures and is a convenient method for modifying and controlling their chemical and physical properties. Studies of the new LC thermosets and their mixtures with non-LC materials will be described.