State of the Art Organic Matrices for Highperformance Composites: A Review

High performance polymers are commonly and widely used in advanced technologies and cover large varieties of applications such as micro and nanoelectronics, civil and military transportation, defense, etc. It is important for these technologies to design tailor-made high tech materials by focusing on molecular structure/processability/ properties relationships of high performance polymers such as heterocyclic polymers known for their outstanding thermal properties and their good mechanical behaviour or even functionalized polymers or inorganic polymers. Nowadays, there is a strong demand of such resins since the development of composites and recently nanocomposite materials. Of the high temperature polymers commercially available, one can cite poly(arylene ethers), polybenzimidazoles, resins from cyanates, resin from bismaleimides, organofluoro polymers, certain silicones and liquid crystalline polyesters. Polyimides and poly(arylene ether)s have attracted the attention of scientists and engineers more than other polymers. This attention is not only due to the attractive combination of properties but also because polyimides and poly(arylene ether)s can be readily tailor- made for specific applications. This article gives an account of developments in high temperature organic polymers during the last 5 years with major emphasis on linear, hyperbranched or dendritic structures concerning polyimides family, polyphenylquinoxalines and end-capped polymers such as bis-maleimides, PMR-15 and acetylene-terminated resins, highlighting the chemical structure with their ultimate physico-mechanical properties and focusing on the parameters which govern thei r processability. Processability and different applications will be presented as films (membranes for fuel cell), photosensitive products (microelectronics) or prepregs.