Abstract
A study on mesophase pitch as a matrix precursor of carbon fiber reinforced carbon (C/C) composite has been recently presented. This study is concerned with the production of mesophase pitch as matrix precursors for C/C composite from coal tar pitch. A commercial coal tar pitch was heat-treated at 25$0^{\circ}C$ for 2 hours to remove low molecular weight fraction from the pitch then increasing the temperature of the pitch to between 350~45$0^{\circ}C$ to produce mesophase pitch. The pitch was continuously stirred during this time and nitrogen gas was continuously bubbled through the pitch. Spherical and bulk mesophases were formed in the pitch after heat-treatment,. Parent and mesophae pitches were characterized by elemental analysis coke yield solubi-lity in tetrahydrofuran and hexane and an optical microscopy to measure the mesiophase content. It was neces-sary to produce C/C composite that a mesophase pitch with about 30-40 vol% mesophase spherulites can be infiltrated into a fiber preform without a filter effect as a matrix precursor conditions. This condition was satisfied with mesophase pitch heat treated at 40$0^{\circ}C$ for 2 hours. The other heat treatment conditions showed the nuclei of mesophase or bulk mesophae which were not satisfied with the matix precursor condition.
