Solution Radical Controlled Polymerization of High Average Molecular Weight Polyacrylonitrile

Free-radical solution copolymerization of acrylamide(AM) and acrylonitrile(AN) was carried out in dimethyl sulfoxide(DMSO) using azodiisobutyronitrile(AIBN) as initiator. The effect of monomer concentration,ratio of monomer,initiator content,reaction temperature and polymerization time on copolymerization was studied. The conversion rate of the polymerization and the relative molecular weight of the product were determined by weight method and Ubbelodhe viscosimeter. IR was used to characterize the structures of the polymers. The results show that the conversion of copolymerization increases and the molecular weight decreases as reaction temperature increases and initiator content increases. The conversion of copolymerization increases and the molecular weight increases as monomer concentration increases. the copolymerization is in accordance with the free radical copolymerization. By optimization of polymerization conditions,polyacrylonitrile of molecular weight at approximately 2.1×105 and conversion at 90% can be obtained.