Tribological Approach to Investigate the Interface Properties in Metallurgical Coke

Metallurgical coke is a brittle composite material comprising predominantly carbon derived from both reactive and inertinite coal macerals. During cokemaking, these macerals form the porous coke matrix. The interfaces between the distinct maceral derived components, known as textures in the final coke structure, are well-known to be a major source of weakness in some metallurgical cokes. In this paper, we present a novel approach which applies techniques used in tribology to investigate the strength of the interfaces as well as the wear properties of the different textural constituents in metallurgical coke, at room temperature. The wear mechanisms which occur in coke were investigated using three pilot oven cokes of different single coal origin. A range of high resolution analytical techniques, including coke petrography, optical microscopy, stereo microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy, were used to determine the wear modes. The technique has also proven to be an effective method to determine the relative strength of inerts and RMDC as well as the strength of the interface between these two textures, based on their susceptibility to different wear mechanisms. Further work is focused toward being able to predict the wear properties and relative strength of the inerts in a particular coke from their properties in the original coal(s).