Melt spinning of propylene carbonate‐plasticized poly(acrylonitrile)‐co‐poly(methyl acrylate)

The primary use of poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN) fibers, commonly referred to as acrylic fibers, is in textile applications like clothing, furniture, carpets, and awnings. All commercially available PAN fibers are processed by solution spinning; however, alternative, more cost‐effective processes like melt spinning are still highly desired. Here, the melt spinning of PAN‐co‐poly(methyl acrylate) (PMA) plasticized with propylene carbonate (PC) at 175°C is reported. The use of methyl acrylate (MA) as comonomer and PC as an external plasticizer renders the approach a combination of internal and external plasticization. Various mixtures of PAN and PC used in this work were examined by rheology, subjected to melt spinning, followed by discontinuous and continuous washing, respectively. The best fibers were derived from a PAN‐co‐PMA copolymer containing 8.1 mol‐% of MA having a number‐average molecular weight M _n of 34 000 g/mol, spun in the presence of 22.5 wt.‐% of PC. The resulting fibers were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and wide‐angle X‐ray scattering (WAXS), and were subjected to mechanical testing.     

An overview of synthetic modification of nitrile group in polymers and applications

The physicochemical properties of polymers are mainly dependent on the nature of polymer backbone and/or pendant groups linked to the main chain. Therefore, synthetic modification of these functional groups via post functionalization is an important approach for obtaining novel polymeric systems with improved properties and targeted applications. In this context, the synthetic modifications of nitrile group in polymers into various useful functionalities have received considerable attention and several interesting applications of the resulting polymers have been identified. The majority of the studies are based on Polyacrylonitrile (PAN), and some isolated examples of nitrile functionalization in copolymers such as Poly (Styrene-co-Acrylonitrile) (SAN), Poly (Acrylonitrile-co-Butadiene-co-Styrene (ABS) and Nitrile Rubber (NBR) are available. These synthetic modifications are mainly accomplished by the reactions such as Nucleophilic addition, cycloaddition, reduction, and hydrolysis using various reagents. These studies describing the post-polymerization modifications of nitrile group in polymers reported during the last three decades are covered in this review.     

Surface modification of polyacrylonitrile fiber for immobilization of antibodies and detection of analyte

Pendent nitrile groups of multifilamentous polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers were reduced to amino groups using lithium aluminum hydride for different time of reduction and amine content was estimated by performing acid-base titrations. Attenuated total reflection-fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) were used for the characterization of the generated amino groups and thermal properties of the reduced fibers, respectively. The surface morphology of the fibers after reduction and immobilization was characterized using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The newly formed amino groups of the fibers were activated by using glutaraldehyde for the covalent linking of Goat anti-Rabbit IgG-HRP (GAR-HRP) antibody enzyme conjugate. Modified PAN fibers were evaluated as a matrix for sandwich ELISA by using Goat anti-Rabbit antibody (GAR-IgG), Rabbit anti-Goat (RAG-IgG) as analyte and enzyme conjugate GAR-HRP. The fibers reduced for 24 h were able to detect the analyte RAG-IgG at a concentration as low as 3.75 ng mL⁻¹ with 12% skimmed milk as blocking reagent for the optimized concentration of primary antibody GAR-IgG 3 μg mL⁻¹ and peroxidase conjugate GAR-HRP dilution of 8000 fold. The sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility of the developed immunoassay was further established with antibodies present in human blood using Rabbit anti-Human (RAH-IgG) antibody and the corresponding HRP enzyme conjugate. As low as 0.1 μL of human blood was sufficient to perform the assay with the modified fibers.     

Polyamide-imide/polyetherimide dual-layer hollow fiber membranes for pervaporation dehydration of C1–C4 alcohols

To circumvent the common swelling and deteriorated performance of integral asymmetric hollow fiber membranes for pervaporation dehydration, we have developed novel polyamide-imide (PAI)/polyetherimide (PEI) hollow fiber membranes with synergized performance with the aid of dual-layer spinning technology. Dehydration of C1–C4 alcohols has been conducted and the orders of their fluxes and permeances have been analyzed. The hollow fibers spun at 2 cm air gap and annealed at 75 °C exhibit the highest pervaporation performance: separation factors for t-butanol/water and iso-butanol/water binary systems are greater than 50,000 with flux more than 700 g/m² h. A comparison with literature data shows that the newly developed membranes outperform most other polymeric membranes for the dehydration of IPA and butanols. The dual-layer hollow fiber membranes also exhibit good long-term stability up to 200 h. The superior performance can be attributed to (1) the balanced properties of PAI as the selective layer for dehydration pervaporation; (2) the low water uptake and less swelling characteristic of the PEI supporting layer; and (3) the desirable membrane morphology consisting of a fully porous inner layer, a porous interface, and an ultrathin dense-selective outer skin.     

Reflection-Absorption Infrared Spectroscopy Study of Polyacrylonitrile on Copper at Elevated Temperature

Reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIR) has been used to investigate the chemical structural changes in Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) film adsorbed on copper at 200°C for different time. The formation of an almost fully conjugated C-C=C backbone occurs after heating for only 2 h due to the catalytic effect of copper. The freely dangling cyano groups in PAN molecules initially coordinate to copper surface through the triple bond in π-bonded orientation, then convert to [sgrave]-bonding through the donation of the lone pair of electrons of nitrogen. It is suggested that this transition of the types of coordination would relate to the different geometries of PAN on copper during heating. Since the nitrile complexing and cyclization occur at the same time, the reaction process for the pyrolysis of PAN on copper surface is different from that in the bulk.     

The use of a polymer inclusion membrane in a paper-based sensor for the selective determination of Cu(II)

A disposable paper-based sensor (PBS) is described for the determination of Cu(II) in natural and waste waters at approximately 2 cents per measurement. The device makes use of a polymer inclusion membrane (PIM) to provide the selectivity for Cu(II). The PIM consists of 40 wt% di(2-ethlyhexyl) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) as the carrier, 10 wt% dioctyl phthalate (DOP) as a plasticizer, 49.5 wt% poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) as the base polymer and 0.5 wt% (m m⁻¹) 1-(2′-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) as the colourimetric reagent. High selectivity under mildly acidic conditions (HCl, pH 2.0) is achieved for Cu(II) in the presence of frequently encountered metal ions in natural and waste waters such as Fe(III), Al(III), Zn(II), Cd(II), Pb(II), Ca(II), Mg(II), and Ni(II).     

Diffusion Mechanism of As‐spun Polyacrylonitrile Fiber in a Dimethyl Sulfoxide‐Water Coagulation Bath

In this paper, the diffusion mechanism of as‐spun PAN fiber was investigated in dimethyl sulfoxide‐water by determining the dynamic compositions of the fibers and the diffusion coefficients of solvent and nonsolvent during coagulation. The diffusion process could be divided into two stages. Results showed that the first stage of the diffusion process was the most important during the whole process, which was fundamental to further study on the formation mechanism. Also, compared with wet spinning, the dry‐jet wet spinning method had the advantage of mild coagulating at a high jet‐stretch. At high concentrations, the diffusion coefficients increased and the ratio of solvent diffusion coefficient to nonsolvent diffusion coefficient decreased; an increasing temperature resulted in the increase of both diffusion coefficients with a decrease in their ratios. To some extent, for the PAN‐DMSO‐water system, the more the ratios D_s*/D_n* tended to 1, the more the cross‐section shapes of as‐spun PAN fiber tended to be circular.     

稀土镧在腈纶纤维化学镀银中的应用及其电化学性能

采用化学镀法(镀液中加入适量的稀土镧)在硅烷偶联剂改性后的腈纶纤维表面沉积金属银,由粒径分析、X射线衍射、扫描电子显微镜、阴极极化曲线以及循环伏安曲线等方法对其进行表征,研究了硝酸镧对化学镀银沉积速度、镀层质量和电化学性能的影响。结果表明,镀银液中加入适宜的硝酸镧,银的沉积速率和腈纶纤维表面银镀层的表面质量均有不同程度的提高。电化学测试表明,镀银液中增大硝酸镧的浓度(0～0.01 g/L),阴极极化曲线极化度增大,氧化还原峰的电流上升,电沉积的速度加快。     

Effects of fiber diameter and CO2 activation temperature on the pore characteristics of polyacrylonitrile based activated carbon nanofibers

The effects of fiber diameter and activation temperature on the pore characteristics of polyacrylonitrile based activated carbon nanofibers are investigated. It was found that lower fiber diameters as well as higher activation temperatures lead to a higher weight loss, specific surface area and total pore volume. The nitrogen adsorption capacity of activated carbon nanofibers is almost three times that of activated carbon fiber with a diameter of 10 µm. As far as the size of pores in activated carbon nanofibers is concerned, it is basically the micropores that dominate the scene. Moreover, tailoring the pore characteristics by adjusting the activation temperature and fiber diameter is plausible. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

NiSO_4改性对聚丙烯腈原丝及其碳纤维结构与性能的影响

碳纤维具有高比强度、高比模量、导电、耐热、自润滑等优异的综合性能,在纤维增强复合材料中得到了广泛的应用.可制备碳纤维的前驱体有人造丝、沥青、聚丙烯腈纤维、木质素、聚乙烯纤维、聚苯并噻唑(PBO)纤维等.但大多数高强碳纤维目前仍然是由聚丙烯腈纤维制备的,同时,许多工作都集中在更进一步提高碳纤维的机械性能.特别是在我国, 碳纤维质量与某些发达国家相比,还有较大的差距,急需解决的问题就是如何尽快研制出高力学性能的碳纤维.采用氨基硅氧烷、脂肪族羧酸[1]、CuCl[2]、KMnO 4[3]、CoCl2[4]等有机或无机化学试剂对聚丙烯腈原丝进行化学处理, 以改进最终碳纤维的结构与性能是一种有效的方法.国内在这方面的研究还很少.文献[1 ～4]中所采用的方法都是利用商业聚丙烯腈原丝在碳化前进行洗油、浸渍、洗涤烘干处理 ,增加了碳纤维制备的工序,同时,原丝损伤较大,在连续生产中难以适用.我们在原丝连续制备的同时采用NiSO4溶液浸渍处理聚丙烯腈纤维,本文主要研究了采用NiSO4浸渍改性后聚丙烯腈原丝及其碳纤维的结构与性能.研究表明,采用NiSO4在线浸渍改性聚丙烯腈原丝,生产工艺简单,且能有效地改进最终碳纤维的结构与性能.