A comparison of coagulation and gelation on the structures and stabilization behaviors of polyacrylonitrile fibers

The fiber spinning methods determine the formation of the physical structures of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers which further affect stabilization reactions and the mechanical performances of the resultant carbon fibers. In this study, PAN fibers were prepared by both dry-jet gel spinning (g-PAN) and dry-jet wet spinning (w-PAN), and their stabilization behaviors were compared. While the stabilized w-PAN fibers show sheath-core structures, the stabilized g-PAN fibers exhibit relatively uniform stabilized structures along the radial direction. Additionally, the stabilization reactions of g-PAN fibers occur faster than that of w-PAN fibers, and the cyclization, oxidation, and crosslinking reaction activation energies of g-PAN fibers are lower than that of w-PAN fibers, respectively. Moreover, the carbon yield of g-PAN is higher than that of w-PAN fibers. We believe that above changes are possibly ascribed to the formation of different PAN sheath structures and oriented chain structures during dry-jet wet spinning and dry-jet gel spinning. It is concluded that gel spinning could significantly reduce the sheath-core difference of PAN fibers and the stabilized fibers as compared with wet spinning, which leads to a faster stabilization and more uniform stabilized structures. (c) 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 137, 48671.