A Brief History Of The Development Of Graphite Electrodes

Graphite Electrode uses petroleum coke and bitumen coke as pellets and coal pitch as a binder. It is a high-temperature resistant graphite conductive material made by molding, baking, graphitization and machining. Graphite electrode is an important high-temperature conductive material for electric furnace steelmaking. The graphite electrode is used to input electric energy to the electric furnace. The high temperature generated by the arc between the electrode tip and the charge is used as the heat source to melt the charge for steelmaking. Other electrical smelting or electrolytic equipment Graphite electrodes are also often used as conductive materials. Utilizing the excellent physical and chemical properties of graphite electrodes, it is also widely used in other industrial sectors. The carbon product industry, which mainly produces graphite electrodes, has become an important part of the contemporary raw material industry. So do you know the development of graphite electrodes? The following Fine-graphite Rod Supplier will come to tell you.

As early as 1810, Humphry Davy used charcoal to make a carbon electrode that can generate an electric arc after being energized, opening up a broad prospect of using carbon materials as high-temperature conductive electrodes. In 1846, Stair and Edwards used coke powder and sucrose to mix and press-mold. They were fired at high temperature to make another carbon electrode, and then immersed this carbon electrode in concentrated sugar water to increase its bulk density. They obtained a patent right to produce this electrode.

In 1877, Cleveland's Bloch C.F.Brush and w.H.Lawrence used calcined petroleum coke to develop a low-ash carbon electrode successfully.

Graphite Electrode

In 1899, O.G. Pritchard first reported a method for manufacturing natural graphite electrodes using Ceylon natural graphite as a raw material. In 1896, H.Y. Gastner obtained the patent right to use electric power to directly heat the carbon electrode to high temperature and produce artificial graphite electrode with better performance than natural graphite electrode.

In 1897, EGAcheson of Carborundum Co. in the United States manufactured the first batch of artificial graphite electrodes made of petroleum coke in a resistance furnace for the production of corundum. The product specifications were 22mm × 32mm × 380mm. This artificial graphite electrode was then used in the electrochemical industry. The “Acheson” graphitization furnace designed on the basis of caustic soda will consist of a carbon electrode produced by Needle Coke and a small amount of resistive material (metallurgical coke particles) to form a “furnace core resistance”. After being energized, high temperature will be generated, which will make the system The resulting carbon electrode is "graphitized" at high temperature to obtain an artificial graphite electrode.

At the end of the 19th century, the French P.L.T.Heroult invented the direct electric arc furnace, which began to be used in the production of calcium carbide and ferroalloys. It was first used in steelmaking in 1899. The electric arc furnace requires a certain number of high-temperature-resistant conductive electrodes. Although Acheson Graphite Co. sold connectable electrodes around 1900, at this time only small-sized graphite electrodes could be produced.

In the early 20th century, electric furnace steelmaking mainly used carbon electrodes with anthracite as raw materials or natural graphite electrodes with natural graphite as raw materials. The process for producing carbon electrodes or natural graphite electrodes is relatively simple.

In the 1980s, the world's largest electric arc furnace used graphite electrodes with a diameter of 813mm. After World War II, the quality of raw materials, equipment and manufacturing technology for the production of graphite electrodes have been continuously improved. With the continuous increase of the input power of electric furnace steelmaking, high-power and ultra-high-power graphite were successfully developed in the 1960s and 1970s. electrode.

Due to the continuous improvement of the quality of graphite electrodes and the improvement of steelmaking technology of electric furnaces, the graphite electrode consumption per ton of electric furnace steel has been reduced from 6-8kg in the 1970s to 4-6kg in the 1980s (common power electric furnaces). The electrode consumption per ton of steel in large electric furnaces has been reduced to about 2.5 kg, while the graphite electrode consumption per ton of steel in ultra-high-power DC electric arc furnaces (using only one graphite electrode) can be reduced to about 1.5 kg. At the end of the 1980s, the tonnage of most electric furnaces in the electric steelmaking industry of industrialized developed countries in the world has increased to 80-200t, so high-power or ultra-high-power graphite electrodes with a diameter of 550-750mm are used in large quantities.