Rheological Behavior and Gelcasting of Mesocarbon Microbead Suspensions

The aqueous mesocarbon microbead (MCMB) suspensions were prepared by using Tween 80 as dispersant. Zeta potential measurements showed that the Zeta potential of MCMB suspension was 55mV (pH=7) in absolute when the amount of dispersant was lwt% (based on MCMB mass). The effects of dispersant amount and solid loading on the rheological behavior of MCMB suspensions were studied. It was found that the optimum content of dispersant was 1%. As the increase of MCMB amount in the suspensions, the viscosity of MCMB suspensions increased. The MCMB suspension with a solid loading of 62.5wt% (53.1vol%) was prepared successfully. The properties and inicrostructures of MCMB green bodies and sintered bodies were measured and observed, respectively. A carbonaceous plate with complex shape was also fabricated by gelcasting process.