Catalytic cyanate resin with polysulfide cation catalyst and its ultra‐high molecular weight polyethylene fiber composites for radome

Abstract

Cyanate (CE) resin and ultrahigh‐molecular‐weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fiber are respectively important matrix and reinforcing material for lightweight and high wave‐transparent composites. However, the preparation and application of the composites is limited by the mismatch of molding temperature between CE resin and UHMWPE fiber. The best method to solve this problem is to catalyze the CE resin curing reaction and reduce its molding temperature from 270 to 135°C, which is the upper heat‐resistance temperature of UHMWPE fiber. In this study, the polysulfide catalyst (PSC) was used to catalyze CE resin curing reaction, reduce the curing reaction activation energy and the molding temperature. The apparent activation energy of the CE‐PSC resin decreases from 107.2 to 60.7 kJ mol−1, and the glass transition temperature of the CE‐PSC resin is 257.2°C, flexural strength and tensile strength are 120.2 and 60.8 MPa, respectively. As a result, the CE‐PSC/UHMWPE fiber composites, which are molded at the matching temperature of 135°C, have low density of 1.05 g cm−3, low dielectric constant of 2.4, low dielectric loss of 0.006, and high wave transmittance of 92.2%. Therefore, the CE‐PSC/UHMWPE fiber composites have wide application prospect in the field of light weight and high wave‐transparent composites.Highlights A novel catalytic CE resin can be cured at 135°C with low dielectric properties. The processing temperature mismatch between CE and UHMWPE fiber was solved. Catalytic CE/UHMWPE composites have lightweight and high wave‐transparent properties.