Shaped article of polymers prepared from (β-hydroxyethyl)-trimellitic acid imide

Claim 1

A shaped article, which is made of a polymeric material comprising at least 80 mol % of the repeating units of the formula: Table 4 ______________________________________ Run No. 9 (heat set) 10 (not heat set) Longitudi- Trans- Longitudi- Trans- Physical nal dir- verse nal dir- verse proper- ec direc- ec- direc- ties tion tion tion tion ______________________________________ Density (g/cm.sup.3) 1.448 1.435 Refractive index 1.693 1.652 1.700 1.663 Strength at break (kg/mm.sup.2) 20° C. 36.2 27.4 37.4 29.5 150° C. 25.3 19.4 -- -- Elongation at break (%) 20° C. 21 46 27 51 150° C. 54 68 -- -- Young's modulus 673 494 658 453 (kg/mm.sup.2) Degree of heat 2.7 2.3 38 27 shrinkage (%) Thickness of film 14 14 (μ) ______________________________________ and having (a) an intrinsic viscosity of not less than 0.25 dl/g when measured in a mixture of phenol and sym.-tetrachloroethane in a weight ratio of 6:4 at 30° C., (b) a refractive index of not less than 1.625 at least in one direction, (c) a density of not less than 1.430 g/cm 3 , and (d) the following physical values at 20° C. in the direction in which the refractive index is measured: (i) a tensile strength at break of 15 to 150 kg/mm 2 (ii) a Young's Modulus of 300 to 3,000 kg/mm 2 , and (iii) an elongation of 1-200%.