Liquid Crystal Formation by Polymerization of Coal Tar Pitch under Heat and Pressure

Coal tar pitch which is known as a hydrocarbon consisting of polycyclic aromatic compounds and a powerful source of carbon aromatic derivatives [1] has huge amount of potentialto transform into graphite structures. In this research heat and pressure induced polymerization of coal tar pitch was carriedout in a reactor under different conditions of temperature, pressure and soaking time and mesophase pitch was obtained.It is well known that mesophase pitch is enriched of aromatic hexagonal ordered planes of hydrocarbons [2]. This kind of pitch consists of discotic nematic liquid crystals (DNLCs) [3]which has the potential to be used in carbon fibre spinning filament processes, injection of brake preforms and fabricationof anode materials for production lithium ion batteries [4]. These spherulite crystals evaluated by optical microscopy, FTIR analysis and XRD studies.