Recent Trends and Space Applications of Poylmides.

This paper presents the science and technology developments in the field of high performance aromatic polyimides and their composites in relation to space applications as follows; 1) Development of polyimides as an high performance materials 2) High perfonnance polyimide film like materials for spacecraft applications such as the multilayer thermal blanket(MLI) and the flexible and/or rigid extendable structures, 3) Development of these heat resistant polyimide matrix resins for advanced composites. Finally, this paper describes the synthesis and properties of a newly developed phenylethynyl-terminated novel asymmetric biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride (a-BPDA) derived polyimide matrix resin with high Tg, good processability, and good toughness.