Carbon fibers prepared from tailored reversible‐addition‐fragmentation transfer copolymerization‐derived poly(acrylonitrile)‐co‐poly(methylmethacrylate) |
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Authors: | Johanna M. Spörl Antje Ota Ronald Beyer Thomas Lehr Alexandra Müller Frank Hermanutz Michael R. Buchmeiser |
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Affiliation: | 1. Lehrstuhl für Makromolekulare Stoffe und Faserchemie, Institut für Polymerchemie, Universit?t Stuttgart, , D‐70550 Stuttgart, Germany;2. Institut für Textilchemie und Chemiefasern (ITCF), , D‐73770 Denkendorf, Germany |
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Abstract: | Reversible‐addition fragmentation‐transfer (RAFT) polymerization of acrylonitrile (AN) was performed with 2‐(2‐cyano‐2‐propyl‐dodecyl)trithiocarbonate as RAFT agent and azobis(isobutyronitrile) as initiator. Linear polyacrylonitrile (Mn = 133,000 g/mol, PDI = 1.34) was prepared within 7 h in 86% isolated yield. High‐yield copolymerization with methyl methacrylate (MMA) was performed and copolymerization parameters were determined according to Kelen and Tüdös at 90 °C in ethylene carbonate yielding rAN = 0.2 and rMMA = 0.42. The molecular weights, polydispersity indices (PDIs), and MMA content of the copolymer were adjusted in a way that precursor fibers could be prepared via wet spinning. These precursor fibers had round cross‐sections and a dense morphology, showing tenacities of 40–50 cN/tex and elastic moduli of 900–1000 cN/tex at a fineness of 1 dtex and an elongation of 13–17%. Precursor fibers were oxidatively stabilized and then carbonized at different temperatures. A maximum tensile strength of 2.5 GPa was reached at 1350 °C. Thermal analysis, infrared and Raman spectroscopy, wide‐angle X‐ray scattering, scanning electron microscopy, and tensile testing were used to characterize the resulting carbon fibers. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014 , 52, 1322–1333 |
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Keywords: | carbon fibers copolymerization polyacrylonitrile Raman spectroscopy reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) WAXS |
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