Structural evolution and kinetic study of high isotacticity poly(acrylonitrile) during isothermal pre-oxidation

Isotactic polyacrylonitrile (PAN) with triad isotacticity of 0.53, which was determined by $¹³C$ NMR, using dialkylmagnesium as an initiator, was successfully synthesized. Isothermal treatment of iso-PAN was conducted in air at 200, 220, 250 and $280^\circC$. Structural evolutions and chemical changes were studied with Fourier transformation infrared and wide-angle X-ray diffraction during stabilization. A new parameter $CNF={I_2240cm}^-1/ ({I_1595cm}^-1+f^*{I_1595cm}^-1)$ was defined to evaluate residual nitrile groups. Crystallinity and crystal size were calculated with X-ray diffraction dates. The results indicated that the nitrile groups had partly converted into a ladder structure as stabilization proceeded. The rate of reaction increased with treatment temperature; crystallinity and crystal size decreased proportionally to pyrolysis temperature. The iso-conversional method coupled with the Kissinger and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa methods were used to determine kinetic parameters via differential scanning calorimetry analysis with different heating rates. The active energy of the reaction was 171.1 and 169.1 kJ/mol, calculated with the two methods respectively and implied the sensitivity of the reaction with temperature.