THE EFFECT OF GRINDING ON THE SINTERING OF RAW PETROLEUM COKE

Preparation of dense carbon materials without use of any binder was at tempted, effect of grinding treatment on the characteristics of raw pe troleum needle coke and on the properties of the sintered carbon compa cts was investigated, and the sintering mechanizm of the coke after gr inding was discussed. It was found that the coke particle size and cry stalline size was decreased and the specific surface area of the coke was increased with grinding, and the influence was obvious up to 20 ho urs grinding treatment. The interlayer spacing of the coke after graph itization at 2773 K was gradually increased and the a-axis constant wa s marginally reduced with the grinding time. Results from the sinterin g experiment show that carbon materials can be sintered from the groun d coke, and the density and flexural strength of the sintering compact s reached stable values of 1.8 g cm(-3) and about 70 MPa, respectively , after 20 hours grinding of the coke. The sintering ability of the co ke after grinding was considered to result from the increase of surfac e energy, lattice distortion energy and fraction of volatile matters o f the coke, which were induced by grinding treatment. (C) 1997 Elsevie r Science Ltd