Methyl silsesquioxane/cyanate ester resin organic–inorganic hybrids with low dielectric constant

A kind of nonfunctional oligomeric silsesquioxane (SSQ), methyl silsesquioxane (Me‐SSQ), was used to modify cyanate ester (CE) resin in this article. First, Me‐SSQ was synthesized by the hydrolysis and condensation of methyltriethoxysilane. Then, a series of Me‐SSQ/CE hybrids containing 0, 1, 5, 10, and 20 wt % of Me‐SSQ were prepared. The effect of Me‐SSQ content on the reactivity, mechanical, dielectric, thermal, and hot/wet properties of materials was investigated. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to study the reactivity of hybrid CE resin systems, indicating that the addition of Me‐SSQ does not show significant effect on the conversion of CE. Mechanical and dielectric properties of the Me‐SSQ/CE hybrid materials were also studied. Impact strength of the Me‐SSQ/CE hybrids reaches its maximum value when Me‐SSQ content is 5 wt %. However, the flexural strength reaches the maximum value when Me‐SSQ content is 1 wt %. The Me‐SSQ/CE hybrid containing 20 wt % of Me‐SSQ shows a dielectric constant of 2.78, that is, much lower than the pure CE resin. At the same time, the dielectric loss of the Me‐SSQ/CE hybrids was slightly increased (tan δ < 0.006). Therefore, Me‐SSQ/CE hybrid is a promising candidate for high‐performance printed circuit board matrix materials. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011