The effect of commercial polyacrylonitrile fibers characterizations on the produced carbon fibers properties

Three commercial (textile grade) polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers were studied for the manufacture of carbon fibers. In addition to the stabilization cycle, chemical composition, diameter (or cross sectional area for fibers with non-circular cross section), linear density and tensile strength of the polyacrylonitrile fibers, are factors that influence the properties of the carbon fibers were fabricated from them. The highest tensile strength was found for fibers fabricated from commercial PAN having itaconic acid comonomer, higher primary tensile strength and lower linear density and filament cross section. Fibers fabricated from PAN fibers containing sodium 2-methyl-2-acrylamidopropane sulfonate comonomer had the lowest tensile strength, because this comonomer increases the cyclization reaction initiation temperature and has a negative effect on the final properties of the resulting fibers.