NOVEL HIGH-TEMPERATURE AROMATIC COPOLYESTER THERMOSETS - SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION, AND PHYSICAL-PROPERTIES

An all-aromatic thermosetting copolyester has been prepared using hydr oquinone, hydroxy-benzoic acid, isophthalic acid, trimesic acid, and/o r 1,3,5-triacetoxybenzene as key building blocks. The preparation and characterization of these materials are described. Cured resins based on these structures exhibit thermal stabilities in nitrogen to 450 deg rees C, glass transition temperatures up to 240 degrees C, and moistur e pickups elf only 0.3 wt%. An important feature of these cross-linked aromatic copolyesters is their ability to undergo further processing in the solid state through interchain transesterification reactions.