Preparation of mesophase pitch by simultaneous hydrogenation-thermal condensation

In this work, the mesophase pitch was prepared through simultaneous hydrogenation-thermal condensation of coal tar pitch in tetralin. The influences of the content of tetralin on the properties of mesophase pitch were systematically investigated. Results showed that the softening point and insoluble content of mesophase pitch were decreased while H/C was increased gradually with the increase the content of tetralin; polarized light microscopy showed that the mesophase pitch was an uneven-distribution mixture of isotropic pitch and anisotropic pitch when the content of tetralin was less than 8%. With the increase the content of tetralin, the mesophase spheres became evenly distributed in isotropic matrix and the spinning ability of this mesophase pitch had been improved after further heat treatment. The ultimate carbon fiber from the mesophase had a cross-section of random-type.