Comparison of the graphitizabilities of heat-treated coal tar and its mesophase pitches

Formation of graphitizing carbons via a mesophase13; was first reported by Brooks and Taylor [I]. Owing to13; the inherent structural order of the mesophase, it may13; be anticipated that the graphitizability of carbon from13; its mesophase would be higher than that of the same13; carbon, heat-treated from the isotropic phase. How-13; ever, it has been reported by Yamada et al. [2] that the13; graphitizability of some mesophase microbeads is not13; good. With the view to obtain quantitative estimates13; of the graphitizabilities of a graphitizable carbon and13; its mesophase, X-ray diffraction studies on identically13; heat-treated coal tar (CT) and its mesophase (MP)13; pitches have been carried out. Details of the prep-13; aration and metallographic characterization of the13; MP pitch have been published elsewhere [3].13;