A facile method to fabricate thermally stable methacrylate‐terminated oligo(2,6‐dimethyl‐1,4‐phenylene oxide)/benzoxazine thermosetting resins with low dielectric constants and losses at 10 GHz

Poly(2,6‐dimethyl‐1,4‐phenylene oxide) (PPO) as a kind of low dielectric polymer has been applied in telecommunications. However, developing PPO based thermosetting resins with good comprehensive properties is highly challenging. Herein, an interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) design strategy for the preparation of methacrylate‐terminated oligo(2,6‐dimethyl‐1,4‐phenylene oxide) (SA9000) based thermosetting resins is presented. Two series of prepolymers are prepared by blending bisphenol A/furfurylamine benzoxazine (B‐f) or bisphenol A/aniline benzoxazine (B‐a) with SA9000. Then the IPN films are fabricated by the programmed temperature rising method with simultaneous polymerization reactions of both SA9000 and benzoxazines. Owing to the intermolecular interactions between SA9000 and benzoxazines, the polymerization peak temperatures of all prepolymers are lower than those of SA9000 and benzoxazines. In comparison with B‐a based films, B‐f/SA9000 films display better miscibility and higher thermal resistances over the entire composition range, due to the strengthened hydrogen bonding and higher cross‐linking density resulting from the presence of furan ring of B‐f. Specifically, B‐f/SA9000 films possess the advantages of low dielectric constants (2.296–2.475) and low‐loss grade dielectric losses (0.00550–0.00683) at 10 GHz. The current work provides a simple and effective path for the fabrication of high‐performance thermosetting PPO resins based on benzoxazine chemistry and IPN structure design. The novel oligo(phenylene oxide)/benzoxazine thermosetting resins exhibit the advantages of easy preparation, good process performances, high thermal stability, and super‐high‐frequency low dielectric properties.