Shear and extensional rheology of polyacrylonitrile solution: effect of ultrahigh molecular weight polyacrylonitrile

The effect of ultrahigh molecular weight polyacrylonitrile (UHMWPAN) on the shear and extensional rheological behavior of PAN solutions were studied. The PAN solutions were prepared by dissolving medium molecular weight polyacrylonitrile in dilute UHMWPAN/dimethyl sulfoxide solutions. The results of shear rheological measurements indicated that the existence of UHMWPAN reduced the shear-thinning but increased the characteristic relaxation time and the elasticity of PAN solutions. Moreover, the PAN solutions containing UHMWPAN exhibited much more evident strain-hardening behavior than the solution without UHMWPAN. It was found from the results of extensional rheological measurements that the strain hardening and elasticity of PAN solutions increased greatly with the increase of molecular weight or content of UHMWPAN in the solutions. PAN solutions containing a small amount of UHMWPAN have better drawability and favor the increase of jet stretch ratio in dry-jet wet spinning of PAN precursor fibers.