Abstract
In this paper, chemical structure of three different acrylic fibres containing itaconic acid (IA), sodium methallyl sulfonate (SMS) and sodium 2-methyl-2-acrylamidopropane sulfonate (SAMPS) comonomers were studied by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. This study was conducted in order to find the effects of precursor type acrylic fibres on the chemical interaction during the stabilization and on the properties of fabricated carbon fibres.
The results of FT-IR show that the peaks related to C≡N bonds in acrylic fibres containing IA comonomer were completely removed during stabilization, while the peaks in SAMPS and SMS were just reduced. Also, the peak related to CH2 bond for acrylic fibres containing IA comonomer was reduced sharply in comparison with the other two fibres. These changes show that cyclization of nitrile groups and stabilization reactions in acrylic fibres having IA comonomer were completed. These reactions increase the tensile strength of carbon fibres produced from this material in comparison with other carbon fibres produced from acrylic fibres containing SAMPS and SMS.