Development of Ionic Polyimides and Polyamides for 3D Printing

Development of Ionic Polyimides and Polyamides for 3-D printing

Kathryn E. O’Harra & Jason E. Bara
Dept. of Chemical & Biological Engineering, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0203

Recently, we have developed a modular synthetic method to produce polyimides and polyamides which incorporate ionic groups within their backbones as well as customizable functionality and controlled regiochemistry. These unprecedented ionic polyimides and polyamides offer immense opportunities to hybridize high-performance engineering polymers with ionic liquid-like components as a means of tuning thermal, mechanical and conductive properties and achieving ordered nanostructures through self-assembly. This presentation will discuss the background, synthesis, characterization and application of these materials for 3-D printing and gas separation membranes.