US 12,173,430 B2
Process for producing carbon fibers and carbon fibers made therefrom
Jeremy Moskowitz, Mauldin, SC (US); Thomas Taylor, Greenville, SC (US); Amy Tucker, Central, SC (US); Alan Thomas, Mauldin, SC (US); and Billy Harmon, Simpsonville, SC (US)
Assigned to Cytec Industries Inc., Princeton, NJ (US)
Appl. No. 15/734,691
Filed by Cytec Industries Inc., Princeton, NJ (US)
PCT Filed Jun. 5, 2019, PCT No. PCT/US2019/035567
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 3, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/236696, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 12, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/681,353, filed on Jun. 6, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0230775 A1, Jul. 29, 2021
Int. Cl. D01D 5/06 (2006.01); D01D 5/08 (2006.01); D01F 9/22 (2006.01)
CPC D01D 5/06 (2013.01) [D01D 5/08 (2013.01); D01F 9/22 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
 
1. A process for producing carbon fibers, the process comprising:
a) preparing a polymer solution comprising polyacrylonitrile (PAN) polymer
b) spinning the polymer solution in step (a) by wet spinning or air-gap spinning to form carbon fiber precursor fibers, wherein spinning the polymer solution comprises filtering and extruding the polymer solution into a coagulation bath;
c) drawing the carbon fiber precursor fibers through one or more draw and wash baths, resulting in drawn carbon fiber precursor fibers that are substantially free of solvent; and
d) oxidizing the drawn carbon fiber precursor fibers of step c) to form stabilized carbon fiber precursor fibers and then carbonizing the stabilized carbon fiber precursor fiber thereby producing carbon fibers;
wherein at least one salt of an organic cation containing a C═N imine group is added to the polymer solution in step a) and/or to the coagulation bath in step b);
wherein at step a) comprises polymerizing acrylonitrile with one or more co-monomer(s) in a medium in which the resulting PAN polymer is sparingly soluble or non-soluble to form a mixture, adding the salt of an organic cation containing a C═N imine group to the mixture, isolating the resulting polymer, and dissolving the resulting polymer in one or more solvents to form the polymer solution.