Development of Alberta Oilsands Asphaltene (AOA)-based Carbon Fibres

Developing the appropriate cost effective precursor and processing technologies for carbon fibre (CF) manufacturing is a major challenge for researchers and key manufacturers. It is believed that making smaller fibres would help reduce the defects and promote quantum efficiency, surface energy and reactivity, thermal and electrical conductivity. Thus, nanofibres (NFs) have decent potential to not only address the manufacturing challenges, but also provide new opportunities for product development. In this project, it is proposed to produce NFs from Alberta Oilsands Asphaltenes (AOA), thermostabilize and carbonize the NFs. The produced AOA-based CF will be studied in order to address knowledge and/or technology gaps.