Poly(imide urea urethane) Aerogels with Potential Shape Memory Functionalities

Poly(imide urea urethane) Aerogels with Potential Shape Memory Functionalities

Andrew Shinko¹, Sadhan C. Jana¹, and Mary Ann Meador²

¹Department of Polymer Engineering, University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325-0301

²NASA Glenn Research Center, 21000 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, OH  44135

Abstract

The present study investigates polyimide aerogels modified with shape memory oligomers. These materials potentially combine properties of aerogels, such as low thermal conductivity, high surface area, and low density with shape memory functions such as recovery from deformed state upon application of stimuli. Current research focuses on a design of experiments involving the amount of poly(urea urethane) content and the length of the polyimide chain segments. Shape memory oligomers consisting of poly(tetramethylene ether) glycol (PTMG), 4,4'-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI), and 3,4'-oxydianiline (ODA) are reacted with polyimide oligomers consisting of ODA and 4,4'-biphenyl tetracarboxylic dianhydride (BPDA). These segments are crosslinked with 1,3,5 triaminophenoxylbenzene (TAB) and the gels obtained from polyamic acid solutions after chemical imidization are dried under supercritical conditions.  Aerogels with density ranging from 0.11-0.15 g/cm³ are obtained.  The introduction of shape memory oligomers leads to softening of the aerogel network.