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Abstract
Vapor grown carbon nanofibers (VGCF) were dispersed throughout phenylethynyl terminated polyimide 'Triple A PI (TriA-PI)'. TriA-PI is a newly developed thermosetting polyimide, and the cured polymer exhibits excellent mechanical properties and high glass transition temperature (T g > 300°C). The resulting composites containing 0, 3.2, 7.7, and 14.3 wt% of VGCFs exhibited relatively good dispersion in macroscopic observations. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) showed an increase in T g with incorporation of VGCFs; however, increase in T g was not pronounced compared to multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT) dispersion. The experimental result suggested that the VGCFs and MWNT are immobilizing the polyimide chains at elevated temperature, and the chemical and physical interactions between nanofibers and the polyimide are governed by the surface area of the nanofibers per unit volume in composites.