4. Applications

Given their properties, polyimides have a wide range of applications: historically in the aeronautics and automotive industries, but also in electronics, electricity, tableware and the design of precision mechanical parts.

Some are also used as matrices for composites, competing with epoxy resins. An exhaustive inventory of these applications would be tedious, so only a few significant examples are given here.

• Aeronautics and aerospace

  Commercial applications of polyimides in aeronautics date back to the 1960s, as mechanical parts or thermal and electrical insulators.

• Automotive

  PI's resistance to wear under operating conditions without lubrication or in the presence of hot oils has led to its use in sealing...