Melt processable polyacrylonitrile copolymer precursors for carbon fibers: Rheological, thermal, and mechanical properties

Jae Hyeok Lee; Jeong-Un Jin; Sejoon Park; Dalsu Choi; Nam-Ho You; Yongsik Chung; Bon-Cheol Ku; Hyeonuk Yeo

Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Vol.71, 112-118, March, 2019

DOI10.1016/j.jiec.2018.11.012 Export Citation

Melt processable polyacrylonitrile copolymer precursors for carbon fibers: Rheological, thermal, and mechanical properties

Jae Hyeok Lee^{1, 2}, Jeong-Un Jin¹, Sejoon Park¹, Dalsu Choi¹, Nam-Ho You¹, Yongsik Chung², Bon-Cheol Ku^{1, †}, and Hyeonuk Yeo^{3, †}

¹Carbon Composite Materials Research Center, Institute of Advanced Composites Materials, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Wanju 55324, Republic of Korea
²Department of Organic Materials and Fiber Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, Republic of Korea
³Department of Chemistry Education, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea

E-mail:,

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) copolymers containing varying amounts of methyl acrylate (MA), P(AN-co-MA), were synthesized as a melt-spinnable precursor of carbon fibers. The rheological properties of P(AN-co- MA) with MA content of 15 mol% at 190 °C proved to be suitable for melt-spinning and the PAN fiber was spun from an extruder. In order to prevent remelting and fusion of the fibers in the stabilization process, electron-beam irradiation of over 1500 kGy was used and the melt-spun PAN fibers were successfully converted to stabilized PAN fibers by thermal treatment up to 250 °C. Finally, carbon fibers (CFs) were produced by pyrolysis of the stabilized PAN fibers. The mechanical properties of the resulting-CFs were evaluated; the tensile strength, tensile modulus, and elongation at break were 1.37 ± 0.2 GPa, 110 ± 11.1 GPa, and 1.27 ± 0.28%, respectively. These results suggest the possibility of utilizing meltspinning as a cost-efficient method for fabrication of carbon fibers.

Keywords:Carbon fiber;Polyacrylonitrile;Melt spinning;Stabilization;Electron Beam;Mechanical properties

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[2] Newcomb BA, Compos. A Appl. Sci. Manuf., 91, 262 (2016)

[3] Park SJ, Kim BJ, Carbon Fibers and Their Composites, Springer Series in Materials Sciences, p.275 2014.

[4] Ishikawa T, Amaoka K, Masubuchi Y, Yamamoto T, Yamanaka A, Arai M, Takahashi J, Compos. Sci. Technol., 155, 221 (2018)

[5] Beardmore P, Johnson CF, Compos. Sci. Technol., 26(4), 251 (1986)

[6] Salim NV, Blight S, Creighton C, Nunna S, Atkiss S, Razal JM, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 57(12), 4268 (2018)

[7] Arnold U, De Palmenaer A, Bruck T, Kuse K, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 57(23), 7934 (2018)

[8] Lee SW, Lee HY, Jang SY, Jo S, Lee HS, Choe WH, Lee S, Carbon, 55, 361 (2013)

[9] Kim SY, Kim SY, Lee S, Jo S, Im YH, Lee HS, Polymer, 56, 590 (2015)

[10] Bacon R, Silvaggi A, Carbon, 9(3), 321 (1971)

[11] Peng SJ, Shao HL, Hu XC, J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 90(7), 1941 (2003)

[12] Baker DA, Rials TG, J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 130(2), 713 (2013)

[13] Hunt MA, Saito T, Brown RH, Kumbhar AS, Naskar AK, Adv. Mater., 24(18), 2386 (2012)

[14] Behr MJ, Landes BG, Barton BE, Bernius MT, Billovits GF, Hukkanen EJ, Patton JT, Wang W, Wood C, Keane DT, Carbon, 107, 525 (2016)

[15] Kim JW, Lee JS, Carbon, 94, 524 (2015)

[16] Zhang D, Sun Q, J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 62(2), 367 (1996)

[17] Yusof N, Ismail A, J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis, 93, 1 (2012)

[18] MInus M, Kumar S, J. Miner. Met. Mater. Soc., 57(2), 52 (2005)

[19] Qu M, Nilsson F, Qin Y, Yang G, Pan Y, Liu X, Rodriguez GH, Chen J, Zhang C, Schubert DW, Compos. Sci. Technol., 150, 24 (2017)

[20] Naskar AK, Walker RA, Proulx S, Edie DD, Ogale AA, Carbon, 43(5), 1065 (2005)

[21] Mukundan T, Bhanu VA, Wiles KB, Johnson H, Bortner M, Baird DG, Naskar AK, Ogale AA, Edie DD, McGrath JE, Polymer, 47(11), 4163 (2006)

[22] Miller GC, Yu J, Joseph RM, Choudhury SR, Mecham SJ, Baird DG, Bortner M, Norris RE, Paulauskas FL, Riffle JS, Polymer, 126, 87 (2017)

[23] Lowe A, Deng WJ, Smith DW, Balkus KJ, Macromolecules, 45(15), 5894 (2012)

[24] Tian Y, Han K, Zhang W, Zhang J, Rong H, Wang D, Yan B, Liu S, Yu M, Mater. Lett., 92, 119 (2013)

[25] Grove D, Desai P, Abhiraman A, Carbon, 26(3), 403 (1988)

[26] Atureliya SK, Bashir Z, Polymer, 34(24), 5116 (1993)

[27] Batchelor BL, Mahmood SF, Jung M, Shin H, Kulikov OV, Voit W, Novak BM, Yang DJ, Carbon, 98, 681 (2016)

[28] Park OK, Lee S, Joh HI, Kim JK, Kang PH, Lee JH, Ku BC, Polymer, 53(11), 2168 (2012)

[29] Lee S, Kim YJ, Kim DH, Ku BC, Joh HI, J. Phys. Chem. Solids, 73(6), 741 (2016)

[30] Shin HK, Park M, Kang PH, Choi HS, Park SJ, J. Ind. Eng. Chem., 20(5), 3789 (2014)

[31] Park S, Yoo SH, Kang HR, Jo SM, Joh HI, Lee S, Sci. Rep., 6, 27330 (2016)

[32] Lee S, Kim J, Ku BC, Kim J, Joh HI, Adv. Chem. Eng. Sci., 2(02), 275 (2012)

[33] Bashir Z, Carbon, 29(8), 1081 (1991)

[34] Bhanu VA, Rangarajan P, Wiles K, Bortner M, Sankarpandian M, Godshall D, Glass TE, Banthia AK, Yang J, Wilkes G, Baird D, McGrath JE, Polymer, 43(18), 4841 (2002)

[35] Baird DG, Collias DI, Polymer Processing Principles and Design, Butterworth-Heinemann Newton, MA, 1995.

[36] Badawy SM, Dessouki AM, J. Phys. Chem. B, 107(41), 11273 (2003)

[37] Collins G, Thomas N, Williams G, Carbon, 26(5), 671 (1988)