Preparation Of Mesophase From Anthracene Oil

The transformation of anthracene oil into pitch is a feasible procedure for obtaining pitches with binder and impregnating characteristics. Moreover, their high aromaticity, total absence of solid particles and good fluidity make anthracene oil-based pitches interesting precursors for graphitizable carbon materials (e.g., carbon fibres, synthetic graphites). To prepare this kind of material the formation of mesophase in necessary during any one of the processing steps. This work deals with the preparation of mesophase from anthracene oil derivatives by controlled thermal treatment and subsequent sedimentation. Thermal treatment was performed in the temperature range of 440-470oC for different periods of soaking time. During the process, a gaseous pressure of 5-10 bars was used to prevent an excessive release of volatiles. By means of this procedure, a partially anisotropic pitch was obtained. Afterwards, the mesophase was separated from the pyrolyzed pitch by hot sedimentation at atmospheric pressure and subsequent cooling to room temperature. The mesophases were characterized by different techniques in order to obtain parameters related to their composition, pyrolysis behaviour, structure and spinning or sintering capacity. On the basis of the results an appropriate mesophase was selected for the preparation of carbon fibres and/or synthetic graphites.