Status and Prospects for Development of Polyacrylonitrile Fibre Production. A Review

Sixty years of experience in manufacture of fibres from acrylonitrile polymers and copolymers suggest favorable prospects for the development of this kind of textile stock. The characteristics of the primary and supermolecular structure of this class of fibre-forming polymers, the ability to widely vary the methods of converting them into the viscous-flow state, and the methods of spinning, orientational drawing, modification and thermal fixation treatments form the technological base for creation of PAN fibres with defined properties. The basic trends in scientific and technical progress in development of production (volumes and assortment) of PAN fibres are: increasing the unit capacities for production of large-tonnage assortments of fibres while minimizing power and materials consumption; creating multivariant production lines to manufacture fibres for special applications and with specific performance characteristics; increasing the economy of production while minimizing environmental pressure. The important prospects for expanding the areas of application of PAN fibres are due to the reactivity of the functional groups in the polymer substrate. Industrial implementation of technologies based on polymer-analog transformations will allow creating new kinds of materials for use in industry, agriculture, and construction and for data collection, storage, and transfer.