ABSTRACT
Sukumar Maiti Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India
I. INTRODUCTION
Much of our modem progress has been based on the use of materials such as metals, ceramics, and polymers in diversified fields . Among those, polymers are the newest member of the materials family. Within a short span of time, the polymer materials are now scientifically mature, and research is moving into increasingly sophisticated frontiers of material applications, such as nonlinear optics (NLO), computer memory cell, piezeoelectricity, photoresist, molecular composites, etc. High performance polymers, e.g., polyether etherketone (PEEK), polyimides, Kevlar, etc., exhibit high resistance to heat, solvents, chemicals, etc., as well as superior load-bearing characteristics . Most of these polymers have rigid structures (e.g., semi-ladder or ladder type) that have a high glass transition temperature (T 8 ) close to their decomposition temperature ~nd poor solubility characteristics. Therefore, they are d1fficult to process commercially.
