Md Minhajul Islam; Jiawei Chen; Idaresit Ekaette; Khandaker Akib Shahriar; Shahrad Khodaei Booran; TriDung Ngo; Tian Tang; Mark T. McDermott; Cagri Ayranci
Energy & Fuels, Vol 38/Issue 15, Published: July 21, 2024
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.4c01217
6 citations · 5 in 2025–2026
Abstract
The requirements for affordable feedstock, reduced production time, and cost-effective manufacturing are some of the key challenges in carbon fiber (CF) production. Notably, the high cost of petroleum-based polyacrylonitrile feedstock remains a primary obstacle in this field. This study explores the potential of asphaltene, a crude oil byproduct having high aromaticity, as an economical alternative feedstock for CF production enabled by a solution processing fiber production technique utilizing the extensional properties of the polymeric solution. The CFs produced from the asphaltene-based precursor display an average diameter of 3.5 ± 1.6 μm. Tensile tests on single short CFs reveal an ultimate tensile strength of 283.9 ± 92.2 MPa and an elastic modulus of 20.9 ± 5.4 GPa, indicating their suitability for a wide range of material applications.
Equipment used
The study evaluates asphaltene-derived discontinuous carbon fibers produced through solution processing. Tensile tests on individual short fibers measured ultimate tensile strength and elastic modulus. The available abstract does not identify the testing instrument, gripping arrangement or detailed protocol, so the role of a Mach-1 system cannot be verified.
Materials (1)
Material
Textile
Test configurations (1)
Test configuration