Vikas Mittal is an Assistant Professor at the Chemical Engineering Department of The Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi. He obtained his PhD in 2006 in Polymer and Materials Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. Later, he worked as a Materials Scientist in the Active and Intelligent Coatings section of Sun Chemical in London, UK and as Polymer Engineer at BASF Polymer Research in Ludwigshafen, Germany. His research interests include polymer nanocomposites, novel filler surface modifications, thermal stability enhancements, and polymer latexes with functionalized surfaces.

• Preface xiii List of Contributors xv1 High Performance Polymers: An Overview 1V. Mittal1.1 Introduction 11.2 Poly (ether amide) and Poly(ether amide-imide) 31.3 Poly(arylene ether) 71.4 Benzoxazine Polymers 81.5 Poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK) 111.6 Polytriazole 141.7 Hyperbranched Conjugated Polymers 151.8 Alternating Copolymers 191.9 References 202 Synthesis and Properties of Polyoxadiazoles 21Dominique de Figueiredo Gomes2.1 Introduction 212.2 Synthesis of Polyoxadiazoles in Poly(phosphoric acid) 242.3 Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Polyoxadiazoles 272.4 Application Fields 322.5 References 463 Conjugated Polymers Based on Benzo[l,2-b:4,5-b'] dithiophene for Organic Electronics 49Huaxing Zhou and Wei You3.1 Introduction 493.2 General Synthetic Methods for BDT Monomers and Polymers 503.3 Application of BDT-Based Polymers in OFET and PSC 563.4 Outlook 763.5 References 76Polysulfone-Based Ionomers 81Cristina Iojoiu and Rakhi Sood4.1 Introduction 814.2 Polysulfone Backbone and Selection of the Ionic Function 834.3 lonomer Synthesis and Characterization 854.4 Conclusion 1074.5 References 1075 High-Performance Processable Aromatic Polyamides 111S Banerjee and S Maji5.1 Introduction 1115.2 Monomers 1135.3 Polymerization 1165.4 Major Problem with Aromatic Polyamides 1215.5 Approaches to Processable Polyamides 1215.6 Processable Linear Aromatic Polyamides 1225.7 Processable Hyperbranched Aromatic Polyamides 1345.8 Properties 1435.9 Applications 1495.10 Conclusion 1625.11 References 1626 Phosphorus-Containing Polysulfones 167Oana Petreus and Tudor Petreus6.1 Introduction 1676.2 Synthesis of Phosphorus Containing Polysulfones 1716.3 Properties of Phosphorus-Containing Polysulfones (P-PSF) 1786.4 High Performance Applications of Phosphorus-Containing Polysulfones 1886.5 References 1987 Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Polyimides 205Atsushi Morikawa7.1 Introduction 2057.2 Synthesis of Polyimides 2077.3 Properties of Aromatic Polyimides 2117.4 Conclusions 2387.5 References 2408 The Effects of Structures on Properties of New Polytriazole Resins 243Farong Huang, Liqiang Wan, Lei Du, YanhongHu, Yanpeng E and Yujing Li8.1 Introduction 2448.2 The Preparation of Polytriazole Resins 2458.3 Reactivity of Crosslinkable Polytriazole Resins 2518.4 Glass Transition Temperatures of Polytriazole Resins 2538.5 Mechanical Properties of Polytriazole Resins 2598.6 Dielectric Properties of Polytriazole Resins 2608.7 Thermal Stabilities of Polytriazole Resins 2618.8 Conclusions 2638.9 Acknowledgement 2658.10 References 2659 High Performance Fibers 269Mehdi Afshari, Richard Kotek, Peng ChenIntroduction 2699.1 PIPD or "M5" Rigid Rod 2709.2 "Zylon" PBO Rigid Rod Polymer Fibers 2799.3 Aromatic Polyamide-Rigid Rod "Kevlar" Poly(p-Phenylene Terephthalamide) Fibers 2969.4 Spectra, Dyneema UHMWPE Flexible Polymer Chain 3079.5 Carbon Fibers 3189.6 Advances in Improving Performance of Conventional Fibers 3239.7 Conclusions 3319.8 Acknowledgments 3319.9 References 33210 Synthesis and Characterization of Poly (aryl ether ketone) Copolymers 341G Wang10.1 Introduction 34110.2 General Synthetic Methods of PAEK Copolymers 34210.3 Synthesis and Characterization of Structural Poly (aryl ether ketone) Copolymers 34210.4 Synthesis and Characterization of Liquid Crystalline Poly (aryl ether ketone) Copolymers 35110.5 Synthesis and Characterization of Poly (aryl ether ketone) Copolymers with Pendent Group 36710.6 Synthesis and Characterization of poly (aryl ether ketone) copolymers with Containing 2,7 -Naphthalene Moieties 37710.7 References 38311 Liquid Crystalline Thermoset Epoxy Resins 387P. Kannan and P. Sudhakara11.1 Liquid Crystals 38711.2 Liquid Crystalline Thermosets Based on Epoxy Resins 39211.3 Synthesis and Physical Properties of LCERs 39611.4 References 420Index 423