An Attempt to Prepare a Carbon Product from Pitch Material added Sulfur

Abstract

It was attempted to prepare a carbon product directly from pitch material through dehydrogenation by sulfur. A petroleum asphalt was distilled to result in raw pitch with softening point of 320°C. This raw pitch powder was mixed with sulfur of 5% or less, followed by hot-pressing to mould the specimens (3.1 and 1.5 mm in thickness and 40 mm in diameter) under 5 MPa at 320°C. The obtained specimens were further heated under various conditions.
Just specimens (1.5 mm in thickness) added 3-5% sulfur were heat-treated with little damage at a slow heating rate of 0.1°C/min up to 500°C. This specimen, after heating to above 1200°C, exhibited about 1.5 g/ml in bulk density, 20% in apparent porosity, 40-50 MPa in bending strength and 90 in Shore hardness. X-ray parameters d₀₀₂ and L_c of the 2000°C specimen were 3.42Å and 160Å, respectively. The potentialities of the present method are discussed on the basis of the results.