The carbon texture of metallurgical coke and its bearing on coke quality prediction

The carbon in metallurgical coke is composed of textural units, varying in size and shape depending on the rank of coal carbonized. These induce a characteristic texture to coke surfaces. This thesis describes a study of the bearing of this texture on coke strength, particular emphasis being placed on investigating the feasibility of using textural composition data, determined by either scanning electron microscopy (SEX) of etched surfaces or polarized-light microscopy (PLX) of polished coke surfaces, as a basis of predicting the tensile strength of cokes produced from blended-coal charges from the behaviour of individual blend components. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of fractured coke surfaces revealed differences in the mode of fracture of textural components which implied variations in their contribution to coke strength. The tensile strengths of pilot-oven cokes, produced from blended-coal charges, could be related to their measured PLM textural compositions using equations derived from consideration of simple models of intergranular and transgranular fracture. The coke strengths could also be related, with greater precision, with textural data calculated from the coal blend composition and either the SEM or the PLM textural data for the cokes from the individual blend components. It was further found that the strength of blended-coal cokes were additively related to the blend composition and the tensile strengths of the single-coal cokes. Such relationships are useful, at the very least, for predicting the strength of cokes from other blends of the same coals carbonized under similar conditions. The various approaches to coke strength prediction have potential value in different situations.