Mechanical performance and effect mechanism of mesophase carbon material deriving from coal tar pitch

The samples of the carbon material were prepared with the phenol-formaldehyde bonded mesocarbon microbeads (MCMB) through the cold-pressing process. The influence mechanism of the heat-treatment temperature on the mechanical performance was studied by mechanical and microscopical techniques. After heat-treated at 1300°C, the MCMB based carbon material exhibited a flexural strength of 49MPa, a compressive strength of 202.92 MPa, an HS hardness of 84.0 and a friction coefficient of 0.202. It is suggested that the improvement of the mechanical performance benefited from the formation of a fine grain mosaics type texture when the carbon material was heat-treated around 1300°C.