Kinetic Study of Cyclization of High-Tacticity Polyacrylonitrile Heat-Treated under Air Atmosphere via XRD

Two different polyacrylonitrile samples (PANs, triad tacticity fraction is 0.25 and 0.64) were synthesized and used to study the kinetics of cyclization. Polymers were treated at different temperatures between 250 to 300 ℃ under air atmosphere, and analyzed by X-ray diffractometer. The sharp and strong peak at 2θ=16.5 o corresponds to a lateral repeat distance that is the (100) diffraction in hexagonal lattice, while the peak at 2θ=25.5 o reflects the (101) diffraction. In comparing their areas of different heat treated samples, the cyclization of both PANs was identified as a first-order reaction. The rate constants of cyclization reaction at different temperatures and the active energy parameter were obtained. This results might provide an important effect on pre-oxidation of polyacrylonitrile fiber.