Mesophase growth units

The growth units of mesophase can be detected of size <0,1 ym diameter in the pitch using transmission electron microscopy (TEM)... 

This is a serious misnomer as these inert constituents of pitch are certainly not inert during the carbonization processes. It is well-established that the size of the optical texture of a coke can be reduced by the presence within the pitch of primary QI material (102-105). The QI material within the pitch becomes adsorbed on the surfaces of the growth units of mesophase. This thereby prohibits coalescence of these growth units into the larger sized optical textures. When this process is viewed by hot-stage optical microscopy (106) this lack of coalescence is seen to reduce markedly the flow characteristics of the mesophase - it becomes almost static. 

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