Synthesis of new flexible diamine for applications in transparent poly(amide-imide) thin films with low residual stress

A method to improve the optical properties of transparent poly(amide-imide) (PAI) by incorporating a new flexible diamine is demonstrated. The new diamine-incorporated PAI films show a lower glass transition temperature, yellow index, residual stress than neat PAIs irrespective of their structure. The DSC results show that the new diamine increases the flexibility of the polymer matrix indicating the poor packing of the matrix. However, the light transmittance reduces from 89.73 to 88.58%. This discrepancy can be clarified by measuring the residual stress of the PAI films. The results confirm that PAI has high elasticity and flexibility at low and high temperatures. Thus, flexible diamines can be added to PAI films for transparent materials owing to their good optical properties such as a transmittance of over 87%, yellow index lower than 2.8 and low residual stress <20 MPa. Moreover, such diamines eliminate the occurrence of cracks in the substrate.