Effects of Varying Processing Conditions on Carbon Foam Properties

Purified coal-tar was chosen as the raw material for foaming precursor. Distillation methods that refining light constituent was applied as preliminary treatment of pitch. Carbon foam was prepared by the self-foaming of the resultant pitch. The effects of distilling temperature as well as time on the micro structure, bulk density, porosity, compressive strength, and thermal conductivity of carbon foam were investigated in this paper. The compressive strength of produced carbon foam can reach 6.287 MPa and thermal conductivity can lower than 0.048 W·m-1·K-1.