Chain Conformations Of Aromatic Polvimides And Their Ordering In Thin Films.
ABSTRACTWe have investigated the conformation – order relationships of four aromatic polyimides prepared by thermal imidization of the precursor poly(amic acids) in thin films. They are: (i) PMDA-4,4′-ODA polyimide from pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) and 4,4′-oxydianiline (ODA) monomers; (ii) PMDA-PDA polyimide from PMDA andp-phenylene diamine (PDA); (iii) PMDA-Benzidine polyimide from PMDA and benzidine and (iv) BPDA-PDA polyirnide from biphenylene tetracarboxylicdianhydride (BPDA) and PDA. X-ray diffraction results and their analyses by molecular modeling show that all the four polyimides exhibit extended chain conformations in various smectic-type ordered structures that form monomer repeat layers but differ in the details of interchain packing. Furthermore, the polyimide chains are highly aligned along the film plane.