Manufacture of carbon fibers from polyacrylonitrile precursors treated with CoSO4

Abstract Free‐radical solution copolymerization of itaconic acid and acrylonitrile was carried out in DMSO using azodiisobutyronitrile as an initiator, changing the feed rate of itaconic acid. The resulting polymerization solution was spun to form polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursors of carbon fibers. The precursors were treated with a CoSO4 aqueous solution on‐line. The structure and properties of untreated and treated PAN precursors and the resultant carbon fibers were characterized by SEM and TEM, a stabilization process, etc. It is suggested that CoSO4 acts as a catalyst in the formation of a ladder structure and reduces the temperature of cyclization, and the carbon fibers developed from treated PAN fibers showed improvement in the tensile strength and the Young's modulus. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 85: 153–158, 2002