Fabrication and Thermal Properties of Polyimide/Ba_0.77Sr_0.23TiO₃Nanocomposites

Abstract Polyimides (PIs) are considered to be one of the most important engineering materials. The nano-particle of barium strontium titanate (BST) with formulation of Ba0.77Sr0.23TiO3 was synthesized by the sol-gel method. In this process, different contents of BST suspensions in polyamic acid (PAA) solution were imidized by heat treatment to form PI/BST nanocomposites. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), simultaneous thermal analysis (STA), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to characterize the structure and properties of the obtained nanocomposites. It was found that the BST nanoparticles sized 32–40 nm were dispersed homogeneously in the polyimide matrix without aggregation. The ζ potential of PI/BST 33 vol.% was decreased in contrast with that of the pure polyimide. The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of PI/BST 33 vol.% was measured between 36°C and 600°C. CTEs comparison showed about 80% decrease in the CTE value of the nanocomposite in respect to the pure polyimide in a wider temperature range. Keywords: barium strontium titanatecoefficient of thermal expansion (CTE)nanocompositepolyimidezeta potential Acknowledgments The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support and encouragement of the Nanotechnology Society, Naragh Branch, Islamic Azad University, and Iranian Nanotechnology Initiative.