Properties
Acrylonitrile(AN), also known as vinyl cyanide (CH 2 = CH-C N), is a chemical high volume commodity production worldwide over 10 billion pounds per year. There are at room temperature as a volatile, colorless, flammable liquid with a sweet odor. It is soluble in the isopropyl alcohol and water and miscible with carbon tetrachloride ethanol, ethyl acetate, ethylene cyanohydrin, xylene, toluene, petroleum ether, and carbon dioxide liquid carbon. It is stable under conditions of normal shipping and handling, but can undergo explosive polymerization if it is not inhibited.
Applications
It contributes billion annually to the economy of the United States. AN is used as a monomer in the production of acrylic and modacrylic fibers, which represents about 50% of its total consumption. Acrylic fiber is used for clothing, carpets and other fabrics and plastics production robust for automotive components, computers and appliances. Acrylic fiber is also used in the manufacture of carbon fiber polyacrylonitrile-based, materials that are increasingly important for lightweight, high strength applications in the aerospace, automotive, engineering, etc. AN is used as comonomer of the production of vinyl cyanide, butadiene, styrene (ABS) and SAN polymers, which represents an additional 31% of use. These polymers are used in a wide range of nitrile rubber oil and chemical resistant for industrial hoses, seals and gaskets. AN is also used as an intermediate in the production of other industrial chemicals, such as adiponitrile and acrylamide.