|
|
Article: Fibrillated acrylics act as carbon fibre precursors.
- Article from:
- Advances in Textiles Technology
- Article date:
- October 1, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 International Newsletters. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Acordis UK Ltd has found a way to exploit the tendency of acrylic to fibrillate in order to produce staple precursors for carbon fibres.
For use in composites, oxidation can convert acrylic fibres into carbon. Moreover, this conversion is often an intermediate step towards final graphitization. However, conventionally, a continuous filament of acrylic fibre (held under tension during the oxidation step) is used. In contrast, the Acordis technique allows staple fibres to be processed.
Acrylic fibres are polymers of acrylonitrile and an unsaturated carboxylic acid. Preferably, according to US Patent 6 228 489, the fibres are copolymers of acrylonitrile and ...