Comparison of Colorless and Transparent Polyimide Films with Various Amine Monomers

A series of polyimide was prepared by reacting 4,4'-(hexafluoroisopropylidene)diphthalic anhydride (6FDA) as the anhydride monomer and 2,2'-bis(trifluoromethyl)benzidine (TFB), 2,2'-bis(3-aminophenyl)hexafluoropropane (BAFP), 2,2'-bis(3- amino- 4-methylphenyl) hexafluoropropane (BAMF), bis(3-aminophenyl)sulfone (APS), p-xylyenediamine (p-XDA), or m-xylyenediamine (m-XDA) as the amine monomer in N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc). Colorless and transparent polyimide (PI) films were obtained by casting the poly(amic acid)s (PAAs) solution at various heat treatment temperatures. The thermal properties of the PI films were examined using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and thermomechanical analysis (TMA) and the mechanical properties were investigated using universal tensile machine (UTM), Their optical transparencies were also investigated using ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis.) spectrophotometry and colorimetry. The yellow index (YI) and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) values of all PIs were in the range 0.98~2.76 and 25.73~55.23 , respectively.