US Patent 7250477 Thermoset composite composition, method, and article

A curable composition includes a functionalized poly(arylene ether), an olefinically unsaturated monomer, and a nanofiller. Suitable nanofillers include, for example, carbon nanofibers and nanotubes, main group metal oxides, transition metal oxides, metal carbides, cermet materials, ceramics, glass, perovskites, layered inorganic materials, fibrillar inorganic materials, and combinations thereof. The nanofiller may, optionally, be rendered more organophilic by intercalation with neutral or ionic molecules. Methods of preparing and curing the composition, as well as uses for the cured composition, are described.