Engineered Particulate Reinforcement of Polyimides

The Ohio State University
posted on 04/06/2009

Researchers at the Ohio State University have discovered a new way to increase the toughness and the wear of materials by tuning particle characteristics. Plastics are often filled with inexpensive inorganic particles to improve the plastics’ wear and toughness. While it is well-known that these particles can provide significant benefits by simple property averaging, relatively little fine tuning of particle characteristics have taken place.

We have determined that these characteristics can have a dominant effect on the wear and toughness of a given polymer matrix, and this effect can be a more significant factor than the identity of the matrix itself. The results of an aerospace contract have borne this out: the toughness of a ""tuned"" commercial polyimide, Superimide 800, increased by a factor of ten over the unadulterated material. The large improvement that can be made to existing and new materials by simply fine tuning the characteristics of inorganic particles will have a significant impact on commericial airline, automotive, and other transportation industries that either use or will use polyimides as high temperature lightweight plastics.

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