Aluminum‐borate‐whiskers‐reinforced bismaleimide composites. 1: preparation and properties

Abstract Aluminum‐borate‐whiskers‐reinforced bismaleimide (BMI/Al18B4O33) composites were prepared, and the mechanical and thermal properties were investigated. Results show that the coupling agent used for surface treatment of whiskers has a great effect on the properties of these materials. Composites containing surface‐untreated whiskers, or silane‐compound‐KH 921‐treated whiskers, exhibited initially only a slight increase in the flexural strength when the whiskers weight content increased up to 5 wt%; thereafter, they showed a sharp decrease when the whiskers content was higher than 5 wt%. On the other hand, impact strength tests showed that the addition of the two kinds of whiskers decreased the impact strength of the composites. However, studies of the composite containing borate (BE4)‐treated whiskers showed that its flexural strength greatly increased with increasing whisker content. Moreover, the composite showed initially an increase in impact strength with a whisker content up to 10 wt%, then showing a slight decrease when the whisker content reached 15 wt%. Scanning electron microscopy observations revealed that the two coupling agents (KH 921 and BE4) employed in this work tend to change the fracture features of the composites from brittleness to that of ductile behaviour. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry