Mesophase microbeads are a prominent precursor of carbon artifacts with high density and high strength since the powder has significant self-sintering ability. The formation of sintering bridges as a consequence of the liquid-phase sintering at approximately 535degreesC is inferred by thermal analysis. According to thermogravimetric and DSC analyses, the intensive pyrolysis of MCMBs occurs from about 600 to 800degreesC and releases volatiles thus resulting in remarkable volume shrinkage. In this work, carbonaceous plates without binder are prepared by cold molding from MCMBs with 2.1 of C/H mole ratio and about 12 mum of average particle size, sintered at three different temperatures of 800, 1150 and 1400degreesC. A relative higher bulk density of 1710 kg/m(3), bending strength of 84 MPa and electrical conductivity of 2.4 S/m are obtained successfully after calcining the plate at 1400degreesC. (C) 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers.