Preparation and use of acrylonitrile polymers dissolved in aqueous dimethyl sulfoxide

Claim 1

METHOD FOR PREPARING SPINNABLE, DISSOLVED FIBERFORMING SYSTEMS WHICH COMPRISES DISSOLVING A MONOETHYLENICALLY UNSATURATED, ACRYLONITRILE-CONTAINING MONOMERIC MATERIAL IN AN AQUEOUS DIMETHYL SULFOXIDE SOLVENT THAT CONTAINS BETWEEN ABOUT 2 AND 20 WEIGHT PERCENT OF WATER, BASED ON THE WEIGHT OF THE SOLVENT, SAID MONOETHYLENICALLY UNSATURATED MONOMERIC MATERIAL COMPRISING ACRYLONITRILE WHICH IS EMPLOYED IN A SUFFICIENT QUANTITY TO OBTAIN A RESULTING DISSOLVED POLYMERIC PRODUCT WHICH CONTAINS IN THE POLYMER MOLECULE AT LEAST ABOUT 80 PERCENT BY WEIGHT OF ACRYLONITRILE, ANY BALANCE OF SAID MONOMERIC MATERIAL BEING ANOTHER ETHYLENICALLY UNSATURATED MONOMERIC MATERIAL THAT IS COPOLYMERIZABLE WITH ACRYLONITRILE; THEN CARRYING OUT THE POLYMERIZATION OF THE DISSOLVED MONOMERIC MATERIAL IN THE AQUEOUS DIMETHYL SULFOXIDE AT A TEMPERATURE BETWEEN ABOUT 20*C. AND 100*C. TO FORM A FIBER-FORMING POLYMERIC PRODUCT CONTAINING ACRYLONITRILE POLYMERIZED IN THE POLYMER MOLECULE IN SPINNABLE SOLUTION IN SAID AQUEOUS DIMETHYL SULFOXIDE.