Composition of pore-wall material in metal-lurgical coke: Considerations of strength,gasification and thermal stress

The optical texture of metallurgical cokes consists of anisotropic carbon made up of mozaics, 0.5–10 μm in size of flow-type anisotropy, 10–60 μm in size, as well as inert and isotropic material. Cokes from different coal sources possess optical textures which are different, being composed of different extents of the above components. The study examines the optical texture of polished surfaces of cokes and relates changes in surface topography caused by gasification by carbon dioxide at 1173 K, by heat treatment to 2073 k and by etching with atomic oxygen at 293 k to the optical texture. The results support a model to explain the strength of coke and its resistance to breakage caused by gasification, mechanical and thermal stresses, in terms of the size, orientation and bonding of the varied components which constitute the composite structure of coke material.