Synthesis and characterization of polybenzoxazine networks nanocomposites containing multifunctional polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)

A new class of polybenzoxazine/POSS nanocomposites with network structure is prepared by reacting multifunctional benzoxazine POSS (MBZ-POSS) with benzoxazine monomers (Pa and Ba) at various compositional ratios. Octafunctional cubic silsesquioxane (MBZ-POSS) is used as a curing agent, which is synthesized from eight organic benzoxazine tethers through hydrosilylation of vinyl-terminated benzoxazine monomer (VP-a) with octakis(dimethylsiloxy)silsesquioxane (Q8M8H) using a platinum complex catalyst (Pt-dvs). Incorporation of the silsesquioxane core into polybenzoxazine matrix could significantly hinder the mobility of polymer chains and enhance the thermal stability of these hybrid materials. For these nanocomposites, increasing the POSS content in the hybrids is expected to improve its thermal properties with respect to the neat polybenzoxazine. The morphology feature is useful to explain the thermal property changes (Tg and Td) and AFM images show that the presence of POSS aggregation in larger scales occurs at higher POSS contents. The reason of the heterogeneous phase separation may be from the less compatibility of the inorganic silsesquioxane core with organic benzoxazine species and the homopolymerization of MBZ-POSS. In the course of the formation of the polybenzoxazine/POSS hybrids, POSS particles were separated from the polybenzoxazine rich region, leading to POSS rich domains in the range of 50-1000 nm.