Production and Characteristics of Binder Pitch Containing Meso-carbon Microbeads

Abstract

Binder pitch for the production of carbon materials was prepared by adding meso-carbon microbeads (Type-M) to straight coal-tar pitch.The straight coal-tar pitch containing 0-20 wt% Type-M microbeads was heat-treated at temperatures between 300 and 400°C. The amounts of fixed carbon (FC), benzene insolubles (BI) and quinoline insolubles (QI), and softening Point (SP) of the pitch were measured. Then, the capability in using the pitch as bmder for carbon materials was examined by measuring compressive strength of the carbon blocks prepared by using the pitch.Values of FC, BI, QI and SP of the pitch increased linearly with increasing of additional amounts of Type-M microbeads and could be estimated from its additional amounts. The compressive strength of carbon blocks prepared from the mixture of the 35 wt% pitch with 65 wt% coke powder was measured. The compressive strength of carbon blocks had high values when the pitch containing 3-10 wt% Type-M microbeads were used, and these values were higher than those of the carbon blocks produced by using commercial binder pitch.These results show that the characteristics of pitches can be controlled easily by additional amounts of meso-carbon microbeads and that the carbon blocks in which these pitches are used as a binder have high compressive strength.