Most of us have to know steel. We employ it within your everyday routine. But have you noticed how to produce it? Along with what can it decide to use produce it? Fundamentally the steel is produced in a big factory in fact it is cooked within a giant stove called furnace. And the cooking itself takes a lot of ingredients inside it.

The Blast Furnace and Electric Arc Furnace methods include the two major approaches for producing iron and steel products. Scrap melting will be the major process utilizing Electric Arc Furnaces. Recently, industry competition is becoming increasingly intense, elevating the requirement of a lot more efficient melting process. Capacities in the transformers are getting larger and electric furnaces are growing larger worldwide. In this manufacturing environment, graphite materials who have durability for larger-power operation are essential considerably more for that use as Graphite Electrode (GE).

GE are produced from carbon. Carbon is often a nonmetal element with an atomic amount of 6 as well as the atomic symbol “C”. Carbon is the base of organic chemistry, closely in connection with organic matter and life activity. Manufacturing excellent graphite electrodes requires quality materials that are strictly selected.

Graphite carries a higher heat transfer rating, potential to deal with higher temperatures, and has more strength against thermal shock than many other materials. Moreover, it excels in machinability in order to meet the needs for the broader variety of dimensions. Thus, graphite may be the optimum material for scrap-melting electrodes.

GE can be consumed at high temperatures due to reaction with oxygen to become CO, CO2. The oxidation of electrodes starts at 500oC and accelerates its speed at 800oC (inside the furnace). Usage of graphite electrodes by sublimation occurs at 3400o. The rate of sublimation is proportional on the increase of current density.

Meanwhile, utilization of quality GE ends in contributions to saving energy and environmental conservation. Electric arc furnaces, together with the main purpose of recycling steel scraps, boost reuse of steel products.

Production organization of graphite electrodes may be divided as 10 stages the next:

Raw material transporting
Kneading
Extruding
Baking
Pitch Impregnation
Re-Baking
Graphitization
Machining
Inspection
Shipment
The common sizes for graphite electrodes originate from diameter 10″ (inch) to 30″(inch) and from length of 60″(inch) to 110″(inch). The weights are starting from 123 Kgs (10″ x 60″) to 2060 Kgs (30″ x 110″).

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