Dielectric behavior and properties of a cyanate ester containing dicyclopentadiene. I

2,6-Dimethyl phenol dicyclopentadiene dicyanate ester (DCPDCY) was synthesized through the reaction of 2,6-dimethyl phenol dicyclopentadiene novolac and cyanogen bromide. The proposed structure was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared, mass spectrometry, NMR spectrometry, and elemental analysis. DCPDCY was then cured by itself or cured with bisphenol A dicyanate ester (BADCY) to form triazine structures. The thermal properties of the cured DCPDCY resins were studied with differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), dielectric analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis; these data were compared with those of BADCY. The cured DCPDCY resins exhibited a lower dielectric constant (2.58 at 1 MHz), a lower dissipation factor (20.2 mU at 1 MHz), less thermal stability (the 5% degradation temperature and char yield were 430°C and 32.1%, respectively), a lower glass-transition temperature (266°C by thermomechanical analysis and 271°C by DMA), a lower coefficient of thermal expansion (22.5 ppm before the glass-transition temperature and 124.9 ppm after the glass-transition temperature), and less moisture absorption (0.88% at 48 h) than BADCY, but they showed higher moduli (6.28 GPa at 150°C and 5.35 GPa at 150°C) than the bisphenol A system. The properties of the cured cocyanate esters (DCPDCY and BADCY) lay between those of cured BADCY and DCPDCY, except for the moduli. The moduli of some cocyanate esters were even higher than those of cured BADCY and DCPDCY. A positive deviation from the Fox equation was observed for cocyanate esters. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 96: 2079–2089, 2005