Influence of molecular weight on scaling exponents and critical concentrations of one soluble 6FDA-TFDB polyimide in solution

Polyimde (PI) samples with different molecular weights were synthesized. Based on SEC coupled with multidetectors measurement and Yamakawa-Fujii-Yoshizaki (YFY) model, eight soluble samples with absolute Mw from 40,600 g/mol to 197,000 g/mol are chosen and applied to investigate the influence of molecular weight on scaling exponents and critical concentrations at 20–45 °C in dilute, semidilute unentangled, and semidilute entangled solutions. Most of the scaling exponents are higher than the theoretical values in three concentration regions, and scaling exponent increases with molecular weight; overlap concentration (C*) increases and entanglement concentration (Ce) decreases with molecular weight. Considering bead-bead interaction, corrected bead-spring model can explain the related results. Finally, the relationship among C*, Ce, and molecular weight is established at different temperatures (from 20 °C to 45 °C), and two linear equations are available at each temperature. Thus, both C* and Ce are calculated at a fixed molecular weight. And from C/C* and C/Ce ratios, the morphology of PI fiber during electrospinning can be controlled. These results are helpful to guide the preparation of polyimide solutions for different processing.