Study on the Influence of Different Ether Bonds on PAI Materials Properties

In this paper, diamine monomers with ether bonds in the main chain are selected for molecular structure design, and four polyamide-imide (PAI) materials are prepared by the acyl chloride method. A diamine monomer containing an ether group can reduce the friction coefficient and improve the wear performance of PAI material. The wear mechanism of PAI material can also change due to ether linkages. PAI synthesized using m-phenylenediamine without an ether bond has the highest friction coefficient and abrasion loss, and the wear mechanism is mainly adhesive wear. With the increase of the number of ether bonds in the diamine monomer structure, the friction coefficient of the material decreases from 0.5445 to 0.4216 (22.57 %). The abrasion loss of the PAI material synthesized using 4,4′-diaminodiphenyl ether is the smallest, which is 84.4 % lower than m-phenylenediamine. The wear mechanism is abrasive wear and slight adhesion wear. With the increase of the number of ether bonds, the heat r esistance of PAI decreases slightly, while the hydrophobic property increases and the water absorption decreases. To summarise, PAI material synthesized using 4,4′-diaminodiphenyl ether has a low friction coefficient, the best wear resistance, the highest tensile strength and elongation at break, and the best comprehensive properties of the materials reported here.