Abstract
Ultradrawing of atactic poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN) was investigated for a Mv series, ranging 8.0 × 104–2.3 × 106. Samples for the draw were prepared from 0.5–30 wt % solutions of PAN in N,N′-dimethylformamide. The solutions were converted to a gel by quenching from 100 to 0°C. The dried gel films were initially drawn uniaxially by solid-state coextrusion (first-stage draw) to an extrusion draw ratio (EDR) of 16, followed by further tensile draw at 100–250°C (second-stage draw). The maximum total draw ratio (DRt,max) and tensile properties achieved by two-stage draw increased remarkably with sample Mv. Other factors affecting ductility were the solution concentration from which gel was made and the second-stage draw temperature. The effects of these variables became more prominent with increasing Mv. The temperature for optimum second-stage draw increased with sample Mv. Both the initial gel and the drawn products showed no small-angle X-ray long period scattering maximum, suggesting the absence of a chain-folded lamellae structure, which had been found in our previous study on the drawing of nascent PAN powder. The chain orientation function (fc) and sample density (ρs) increased rapidly with DRt in the lower range (DRt < 30) and approached constant values of fc = 0.980–0.996 and ρs = 1.177–1.181 g/cm3, respectively, at higher DRt > 30–100. The tensile modulus also showed a similar increase with DRt. The tensile strength increased linearly with DRt, reaching a maximum, and decreased slightly at yet higher DRt. The highest modulus of 28.5 GPa and strength of 1.6 GPa were achieved with the highest Mv of 2.3 × 106. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 36: 629–640, 1998
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