Abstract
This study reports, for the first time, the use of lower-cost, more sustainable, electrospun carbon nanofiber from asphaltene-based precursors as interleaves in multifunctional composites with improved mechanical and electrical performance. First, asphaltene-based nanomats were electrospun with and without prior asphaltene feedstock purification, including multistage purification. The carbon nanofiber mats, extracted after purification, spinning, thermal stabilization, and carbonization, exhibited improved quality and morphology with reduced beading after purification. Hybrid composites were fabricated using vacuum-assisted resin infusion, incorporating commercially available plain weave carbon fabric layers and the developed nanofiber mats as interleaves in an epoxy matrix. The nanofiber mat reinforcement increased the interlaminar shear strength of the composites by 18% without compromising flexural properties. In general, it was found that purification of asphaltene did not affect the interleave effects, whereas all nanomats resulted in similar enhancement of interlaminar strength and modulus at the interlaminar region. However, using purified nanofiber mats significantly improved the electrical conductivity of the hybrid composites, which can be attributed to an increase in their specific surface area after purification. Hybrid composites produced using purified nanofiber mats showed the highest electrical conductivity, improving both in-plane and out-of-plane conductivities by 173% and 198%, respectively, compared to control carbon fiber—epoxy composites.
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Abbreviations
- CFRP:
-
Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers
- CF:
-
Carbon fibers
- PAN:
-
Polyacrylonitrile
- ILSS:
-
Interlaminar shear strength
- GHG:
-
Greenhouse gases
- AOA:
-
Alberta oilsands asphaltene
- DMF:
-
Dimethylformamide
- THF:
-
Tetrahydrofuran
- Mw:
-
Molecular weight
- SEM:
-
Scanning electron microscope
- EDX:
-
Energy-dispersion X-ray
- XPS:
-
X-ray photoelectron microscopy
- TGA:
-
Thermogravimetric analysis
- ATR:
-
Attenuated total reflection
- FTIR:
-
Fourier-transform infrared
- BET:
-
Brunauer–Emmett–Teller
- BJH:
-
Barrett, Joyner, and Halenda
- AFM:
-
Atomic force microscopy
- HOPG:
-
Highly ordered pyrolytic graphite
- DMT:
-
Derjaguin–Muller–Toporov
- TPU:
-
Thermoplastic polyurethane
- SAN:
-
Styrene acrylonitrile
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Alberta Innovates and the Clean Resource Innovation Network (CRIN) for co-funding this project. The funding of infrastructure and equipment provided by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) is greatly appreciated. The authors would like to thank the nanofab lab at the University of Alberta for the use of the XPS equipment.
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Alberta Innovates,Clean Resource Innovation Network
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Atif Hussain and Parya Keyvani were involved in investigation, methodology, visualization, formal analysis, and writing—original draft. Rachel Cummings was performed investigation, methodology, and visualization. Muzaffer Karaaslan and Addie Bahi were done investigation, methodology, and formal analysis. Scott Renneckar and Frank Ko did resources, funding acquisition, and writing—review and editing. Yasmine Abdin was contributed conceptualization, formal analysis, supervision, project administration, resources, funding acquisition, and writing – review and editing.
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Supplementary material includes elemental composition of the asphaltene sample used in the study, SEM images of the produced nanomats, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) testing of the nanomats, additional images of the carbonized nanomats and composite samples, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of the produced hybrid composites.
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Hussain, A., Keyvani, P., Cummings, R. et al. Multifunctional hybrid composites from novel asphaltene-based carbon nanofiber mats and woven carbon fiber. J Mater Sci (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-024-10217-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-024-10217-2