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ABSTRACT
The Polyphenylene ether polymers (PPE), polysulfone (PSU), polyethersulfone (PES) and polyarylsulfones (PAS) are technical thermoplastic polymers called thermostable. Indeed, the systematic presence of aromatic rings on the main chain explains the high heat resistance of these composites. The PPE is often mixed with polystyrene or shock polystyrene in order to facilitate its implementation and increase its resilience. The polyarylsulfones present an excellent thermomechanical resistance, a satisfactory resistance to fire and interesting dielectric properties.
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Josiane VILLOUTREIX: Senior Lecturer at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers
INTRODUCTION
The polymers studied in this dossier - polyphenylene ether (PPE), polysulfone (PSU), polyethersulfone (PES) and polyarylsulfones (PAS) - are so-called thermostable thermoplastic engineering polymers. The systematic presence of aromatic nuclei on the main chain explains the high thermal resistance of these compounds.
In 1965, General Electric synthesized polyphenylene ether or PPE (also known as polyphenylene oxide or PPO). This polymer is usually blended with polystyrene or impact polystyrene, to facilitate processing and improve impact strength. Thanks to the complete miscibility of polyphenylene ether PPE with polystyrene or its copolymers, the range of modified PPE is consequently very broad and, as we shall see, thermomechanical properties vary widely as a result.
Union Carbide was the first company to manufacture polysulfone PSU in 1965, followed by polyarylsulfone (PAS) in 1976. Polyethersulfone (PES) was introduced to the market by Imperial Chemical Industry (ICI) in the late 1970s.
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Polyphenylene ether (PPE) Polyarylene sulfones (PSU, PES, PAS)
Preparation
Bibliography
General works
Standardization
Table 1 lists the AFNOR ( http://www.boutique.afnor.fr ) and ISO ( http://www.iso.ch ) standards for determining the characteristics of polyphenylene ethers (PPE and modified PPE) and polyarylene...
Producers
(non-exhaustive list)
Table 2 gives some commercial references for PPE, PES and PAS, as well as the producers who market them.
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