Viscosity of coal tar pitch at elevated temperatures

At temperatures up to about 200 ° the viscosity of pitch, of approximately 100 °C Ring and Ball Softening Point, follows a predictable variation with temperature. Above 200 °C, variations occur depending on the source of the pitch, although a minimum viscosity is always achieved between 320 and 400 °C, followed by a rise. On heat treating at a constant temperature of 400 °C the viscosity rises. Although some preliminary work on two low-temperature pitches indicates a different regime, the work on coke-oven pitches shows a clear relation between viscosity rise and the formation of toluene- and quinoline-insolubles by what appears to be consecutive reactions from tar oils, during which the rheological behaviour becomes increasingly pseudoplastic.