Coal tar pitch (CTP) is a quite promising candidate for the production of carbon materials. However, the application of CTP is restricted by its poor properties at elevated temperature. In this paper, silicon carbide was used to modify CTP and the carbonization and morphology behavior of CTP and the CTP modified with silicon carbide were studied by thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show silicon carbide and CTP can coalesce well when the ratio of silicon carbide to CTP is 12% and the carbonization yield of CTP at 900 oC increases from 35.86% to 40.56% after the modification of CTP. Further, the addition of silicon carbide to CTP can reduce the temperature at which the reaction of thermal polymerization happen during the carbonization process of CTP and can facilitate the carbonization of CTP. In addition, little pore distributes on the surface of the heat-treatment products after the modification of CTP with silicon carbide.

Keywords: Coal tar pitch, Silicon carbide, Carbonization, Morphology behavior