Development of a predictive model for study of skin-core phenomenon in stabilization process of PAN precursor

•Structural study of OPF filaments by FTIR-ATR mapping system and comparison with optical microscopy images.•Quantification of the skin-core structure using optical microscopy and image processing methods.•Extensive comparison of kernel density estimation and parametric distribution methods for skin-core structure.•Establish a relation between quantified skin-core defect and operational parameters to predict probability of skin-core.