Mechanical and thermal properties of porous polyimide monoliths crosslinked with aromatic and aliphatic triamines

Thermal insulating materials are of importance for efficient and effective use of heat energy. Porous organic foams are widely employed for this purpose owing to their low thermal conductivity and mass productivity at low cost. However, the poor thermal stability of organic polymers limits their availability within a low temperature range (typically, < 150 °C). In this paper, we demonstrate the one-pot sol–gel synthesis of porous poly(amic acid) (PAA) xerogels and their conversion to porous polyimide (PI) monoliths by thermal imidization. The PAA networks crosslinked with either aromatic or aliphatic triamine and the bicontinuous porous morphology tailored via spinodal decomposition allow the evaporative drying at ambient pressure to obtain low-density PAA xerogels without significant shrinkage. The aromatic crosslinker yields the porous PI monoliths with higher porosity and flexible feature as compared with those prepared with the aliphatic triamine. On the other hand, the porous PI monolith based on the aliphatic crosslinker possesses slightly higher thermal stability owing to the stiffer mechanical property. The durability test results verify the porous PI thermal insulators are available in air at up to ~450 °C for a short period and up to ~350 °C for a long term.