Influence of heat and pressure treatment on the rheological behavior of petroleum pitches

Pitch rheological properties are extremely important during the manufacturing process of carbon materials, in mesophase formation, and with regard to the final properties of the carbon products. In this work, pitch samples have been prepared from three different FCC decant oils by heat-treatment, under 0.9 MPa pressure, in a reactor at 390 °C, 410 °C, and 430 °C. These samples were analyzed in a rotational rheometer using a parallel-plate sensor. The rheometric softening points matched the results obtained using conventional equipment and exponential relationships were found to exist between these softening points and the pitch cosity when the former approached 180 °C. The quinoline-insoluble content (QI) has been shown to be more important in increasing the pitch viscosity than the toluene-insoluble content (TI). Oscillatory rheometry analysis has shown that an elastic response is not always found in creep and recovery tests, even when the elastic modulus G′ is dominant over the viscous modulus G′′. Pitch elasticity was found to be independent of the mesophase, and this pitch property was either only observed when the cross-over point occurred at very high frequencies or did not occur at all within the frequency range studied.