Thermal analysis and melt spinnability of poly(acrylonitrile-co-methyl acrylate) and poly(acrylonitrile-co-dimethyl itaconate) copolymers

Abstract

This work investigated the cyclization possibility and melt spinnability of carbon fiber precursors, poly(acrylonitrile-co-methyl acrylate) (AN/MA) and poly(acrylonitrile-co-dimethyl itaconate) (AN/DMI). The onset temperature of cyclization of the AN/DMI copolymer is lower than that of the AN/MA copolymer and also the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) homopolymer. The enthalpy ( ΔH) of the AN/DMI copolymer is about 3–4 times that of the PAN homopolymer and about 1.8 times that of the AN/MA copolymer, indicating that the degree of cyclization of the AN/DMI copolymer is relatively higher. The melt dwell time of the AN/DMI copolymer is increased to about 3–5 times that of the AN/MA copolymer, especially when synthesized with a feed molar ratio of AN/DMI = 85/15. The AN/DMI copolymer (AN/DMI = 85/15) has the longest melt dwell time, 24.8 min, at the lowest melting temperature, 190oC, among all the PAN-related copolymers synthesized herein. Furthermore, the AN/DMI copolymer (AN/DMI = 85/15) can be rapidly cyclized at the cyclization temperature of 260℃, which is 25℃ lower than that of the AN/MA copolymer (AN/MA = 85/15). In short, this work demonstrates that the carbon fiber precursor made by the AN/DMI copolymer (AN/DMI = 85/15) will be superior to that of the AN/MA copolymer (AN/MA = 85/15) with respect to the melt spinnability and cyclization at low temperature.