Pressure-Induced Changes in Crystalline Structures of Polyimides Analyzed by Wide-Angle X-ray Diffraction at High Pressures

Abstract

Variations in the crystalline structures of polyimides (PIs) were analyzed under high pressures up to 8 GPa using wide-angle X-ray diffraction. The compressibilities along the polymer chain axis (c-axis) of rigid-rod PIs increased with an increase in the number of phenyl rings in the diamine moiety (PMDA/PPD < PMDA/BZ < PMDA/DATP). This could be due to an increased shrinkage of the C–C bond lengths between the phenyl rings and/or a pressure-induced deformation of the periodic structure associated with changes in bond angles and dihedral angles. In contrast, PMDA/ODA, having an ether linkage, showed an increase in the lattice parameter along the c-axis up to 0.8 GPa, which could be due to a widening of the ether bond angle. Moreover, PMDA/PPD showed isotropic compression along interchain directions, whereas PMDA/DATP and PMDA/ODA showed anisotropic compression along the cofacial stacking direction, which resulted in the larger volumetric shrinkages of the latter PIs.