All-Hydrocarbon Composite Resins Based on Cyclopentadiene

Currently available resins for normal and demanding composite applications often suffer from swelling andor degradation caused by polar organic solvents and hot, wet environments. One possible means of overcoming these disadvantages is to use all-hydrocarbon matrices that inherently limit interaction and penetration by both organic solvents and water. Polybutadiene is an example of a resin whose inherent hydrophobicity provides excellent hot-wet stability and long term resistance to moisture and saline environments its use in composites has been limited, however, because of poor physical properties at ambient temperature, We have developed an alternative, inexpensive resin based on multiply-substituted cyclopentadienes