Synthesis and thermal cure of high molecular weight polybenzoxazine precursors and the properties of the thermosets

High molecular weight polybenzoxazine precursors have been synthesized from aromatic or aliphatic diamine and bisphenol-A with paraformaldehyde. The precursors were obtained as soluble white powder. Molecular weight was estimated from the size exclusion chromatography to be several thousands. The structure of the precursors was confirmed by IR, 1H NMR and elemental analysis, indicating the presence of cyclic benzoxazine structure. The ratio of the ring-closed benzoxazine structure and the ring-opened structure in the high molecular weight precursor was estimated from 1H NMR spectrum and also from the exotherm of DSC, showing that the ratio of the ring-closed benzoxazine structure was 77–98%. The precursor solution was cast on glass plate, giving transparent and self-standing precursor films, which was thermally cured up to 240 °C to give brown transparent polybenzoxazine films. The toughness of the crosslinked polybenzoxazine films from the high molecular weight precursors was greatly enhanced compared with the cured film from the typical low molecular weight monomer. Tensile measurement of the polybenzoxazine films revealed that polybenzoxazine from aromatic diamine exhibited the highest strength and modulus. While, polybenzoxazine from longer aliphatic diamine had higher elongation at break. The viscoelastic analyses showed that the glass transition temperature of the polybenzoxazines derived from the high molecular weight precursors were as high as 238–260 °C. Additionally, these novel polybenzoxazine thermosets showed excellent thermal stability.