Polyphenylene ether fiber, nonwoven fabric, activated carbon fiber, activated carbon fiber nonwoven fabric, and method for producing polyphenylene ether fibers

Abstract

A purpose of the present invention is to provide: a PPE fiber that is able to achieve both strength of the PPE fiber and suppression of heat-induced width contraction of a nonwoven fabric formed using the PPE fiber; a nonwoven fabric that is formed from the PPE fiber; an activated carbon fiber that is formed from the PPE fiber; and an activated carbon fiber nonwoven fabric that is formed from the nonwoven fabric. Another purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for producing PPE fibers that makes it possible to efficiently produce PPE fibers. The present invention relates to a polyphenylene ether fiber comprising a polyphenylene ether component, said polyphenylene ether fiber being characterized in that: the polyphenylene ether component has, in repeating units that are connected with a para position bond, a rearrangement structure connected with an ortho position bond; and expression (1) is satisfied.　Expression 1: Y≤-16.5X+218 (In expression (1), X is the amount (mol%) of the rearrangement structure with respect to all polyphenylene ether structural units in the polyphenylene ether component. Y is the initial oxidation temperature (°C) of the polyphenylene ether fiber.)

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