Abstract
Maleimide resins are expected to be one of advanced materials. Cured bismaleimides have excellent heat resistant properties, but are relatively brittle because of their highly crosslinked structure. Therefore, most of recent studies have been focused on improving their toughness without seriously impairing other important properties. For the effective improvement of toughness, trials have been performed for extending the chain length between crosslinks reacting bismaleimide with diamine or diolefin compounds and for modifying the resins with a toughener such as elastomers or thermoplastics.
In this review, the trend of recent papers is mainly introduced on the clarification of reactions in maleimide resin chemistry and the influence of the cured structure and the morphology of modified resins on physical properties.
