Design, synthesis, and water resistance properties of bis(4‐maleimidephenyl) adamantane and hybrid resins

Abstract A novel bismaleimide (BMI) resin, bis(4‐maleimidephenyl) adamantane (BMA), was successfully designed and synthesized by a facile, green, and economic route. Chemical structures were characterized and confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FT‐IR) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance ( 1 H NMR) spectra. Curing kinetics was investigated by the non‐isothermal curing method, and the apparent activation energy ( E a ) and reaction order were further calculated by Kissinger and Ozawa equations. Compared with typical BMI resin, the heat resistance of BMA resin is significantly improved. According to thermogravimetric (TG) analysis, the decomposition temperature of 10% weight loss ( T 10 ) is about 504.3°C in N 2 and 486.4°C in air atmosphere. Furthermore, BMA resin displays very excellent solubility in some organic solvents. After diamine chain expansion, BMA resin would possess the wider processing window, higher thermal stability, dielectric and water resistance properties, which could be widely applied as an matrix of advanced composites.