Abstract
60Co γ-ray irradiation-initiated reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization at room temperature with 2-cyanoprop-2-yl 1-dithionaphthalate (CPDN) as the chain transfer agent was first applied to acrylonitrile (AN) polymerization, providing a “green” platform for preparing polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon fibers using an environment-friendly energy source. Various effects of dose rate, molar ratio of the monomer to the chain transfer agent, monomer concentration and reaction time on the AN polymerization behaviors were performed to improve the controllability of molecular the weight and molecular weight distribution of the obtained PAN. The feature of the controlled polymerization was proven by the first-order kinetics, linear increase of the molecular weight with the monomer conversion and a successful chain-extension experiment. The molecular weight and molecular weight distribution of PAN were characterized by size exclusion chromatography (SEC). 1H NMR and Matrix assisted laser desorption ionization/time of flight mass spectra (MALDI-TOF-MS) confirmed the chain-end functionality of PAN, which also was supported by the successful chain-extension experiments of original PANs with acrylonitrile and styrene as the second monomers respectively.
Highlights
Because of its remarkable and unique performance, including rigidity, tensile strength and chemical resistance, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as the precursor for carbon fibers plays an important role in many industries, such as aerospace, automotive, sports goods and so on [1]
Under high monomer concentration, some visible pale pink solid precipitated out from the solution during the polymerization process and the controllability of polymerization became much weaker under the condition of [AN]0 /[cyanoprop-2-yl 1-dithionaphthalate (CPDN)]0 = 1000/1 (Figure S3)
Chain transfer agent was first applied to acrylonitrile (AN)
Summary
Shuangshuang Zhang 1 , Lu Yin 1 , Junzhi Wang 1,2 , Wei Zhang 1, *, Lifen Zhang 1 and Xiulin Zhu 1, *. Suzhou Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Design and Precision Synthesis, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Design and Application, State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for. Received: 9 December 2016; Accepted: 10 January 2017; Published: 17 January 2017
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