TITLE:
Determination of Coke, Pitch and Pores/Cracks in Green Anode by Image Analysis
AUTHORS:
Dipankar Bhattacharyay, Duygu Kocaefe, Yasar Kocaefe, Brigitte Morais
KEYWORDS:
Image Analysis; Carbon Anode; Coke; Pitch; Pore; Crack
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Surface Engineered Materials and Advanced Technology,
Vol.3 No.3A,
September
25,
2013
ABSTRACT: Carbon anodes are an essential part of
the primary aluminum production. They are made of coal tar pitch, calcined petroleum
coke, recycled anodes and butts. As pitch acts as a binder for the anode, its
proper distribution in a green anode has a great impact on the properties of
the baked anode. Information on cracks in anodes is important for the quality
of the baked anode. There is presently no reliable method available to analyze
and quantify the amount of coke, pitch and pores/cracks in a green anode
sample. In this article, an image analysis technique has been described, that can analyze as well as quantify
the area percentage of pores/cracks and weight percentages of pitch and coke.
The novelty of the method is its capacity to differentiate the different
components of anode.