Biopolyimides poly(ATA-CBDA), made from of 4,4'-diamino-α-truxillic acid dimethyl ester (ATA) and 1,2,3,4-cyclobutanetetracarboxylic dianhydride (CBDA), is synthesized and measured its electric volume resistivity at various experimental conditions. The effects of film size, thickness, drying time, and the electric field strength on electric resistivity are investigated and compared with polyimide (Kapton). The electric resistivity for all polyimide and biopolyimide are distributed in the range of 1015-1016 Ωcm, which shows that biopolyimide has high electrical insulation as well as polyimide. The electric resistivity strongly depends on film thickness, which suggests that electric resistivity is a function of electric field strength. The critical electric field for polyimide and biopolyimide films are determined to be 5.8 × 107 V/m and 3.2 × 107 V/m, respectively. Humidity was found to strongly affect the electric resistivity; ~1016 Ωcm at 34% RH and ~1013 Ωcm at 60% RH for both polyimide and biopolyimide films.
Keywords: biopolyimide; biopolymer; electric resistivity; polyimide.