Synthesis and properties of new multifunctional photosensitive carbosilanes

Abstract

Though the physical blending polymeric preceramic and photosensitive compounds has been proved an easily scaled-up and cost-effective approach to prepare photocurable precursors for most of silicon-based ceramics, there is still scarce of practical photocurable precursor system to SiC ceramic, due to poor compatibility between polycarbosilane and commercially available photosensitizers. Also, in contrast to intensive research on polymeric precursor, no attention has been paid on development of photosensitive compounds for preceramic polymers. In this work, a series of photosensitive carbosilanes containing Si-C backbone and acrylate group was designed and synthesized, which showed good compatibility with polycarbosilanes. The calculation result on the solubility parameters of the carbosilanes and polycarbosilanes well explained their good compatibility. The UV-curing behavior and thermal properties of the photosensitive carbosilanes and their blend systems with polycarbosilanes were also studied. This work provides useful guidelines for selecting and designing photosensitive compounds have good compatibility with preceramic polymers.