Preparation and Characterization of Para-Aramid Fibers with the Main Chain Containing Heterocyclic Units

A para-aramid fiber whose main chain contained heterocyclic units was prepared by low temperature copolycondensation, wet-spinning, and high temperature thermal treatment. The prepared fibers (named F-368) and two commercial aramid fibers, K49 (Kevlar 49, Dupont de Nemours Co., USA) and APMOC (Kamenskvolokno and Tver'khimvolokno, Russia), were characterized and analyzed in detail. Infrared spectroscopy (IR) and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) were employed to characterize their chemical and aggregation structures, respectively. The results showed the introduction of heterocyclic units into the wholly para-aromatic polyamide backbone of K49 in the F-368 and APMOC reduced the crystallinity significantly. The tenacity of F-368 and APMOC were 32.2 and 30.5cN/dtex, which were about 68% and 59% higher than that of K49, respectively. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) were used to investigate their thermal properties; the results indicated that these aramid fibers showed exceptional thermal properties with glass transition temperatures of 240–260 °C, and decomposition temperatures at 510–560 °C, both in nitrogen and air. The TGA results also showed the decomposition mechanism of K49 and the heterocyclic aramid fibers in nitrogen and air were different. The decomposition temperature of K49 was higher than that of the heterocyclic copolyaramid fibers both in nitrogen and air. On the contrary, the char yields of the heterocyclic copolyaramid fibers at 800 °C were higher than that of K49 in both nitrogen and air.