We all must know steel. We use it inside your everyday routine. But have you noticed how you can produce it? And just what will it take to produce it? Simply the steel is made in the big factory in fact it is cooked in a giant stove called furnace. As well as the cooking itself takes numerous ingredients within it.
The Blast Furnace and Electric Arc Furnace methods will be the two major processes for producing iron and steel products. Scrap melting is the major process utilizing Electric Arc Furnaces. Recently, industry competition is becoming increasingly intense, elevating the need for a more efficient melting process. Capacities in the transformers increasingly becoming larger and electric furnaces are increasing larger worldwide. In this manufacturing environment, graphite materials which have durability for larger-power operation are essential a lot more for the use as Graphite Electrode (GE).
GE are made of carbon. Carbon is a nonmetal element by having an atomic variety of 6 along with the atomic symbol “C”. Carbon will be the base of organic chemistry, closely related to organic matter and life activity. Manufacturing excellent graphite electrodes requires quality materials that are strictly selected.
Graphite features a higher heat transfer rating, capacity higher temperatures, and contains more strength against thermal shock than other materials. Moreover, it excels in machinability to fulfill certain requirements for a broader variety of dimensions. Thus, graphite could be the optimum material for scrap-melting electrodes.
GE are typically consumed at high temperatures because of the reaction with oxygen for being CO, CO2. The oxidation of electrodes starts at 500oC and accelerates its speed at 800oC (inside the furnace). Consumption of graphite electrodes by sublimation occurs at 3400o. The pace of sublimation is proportional for the increase of current density.
Meanwhile, use of quality GE ends in contributions to saving energy and environmental conservation. Electric arc furnaces, together with the main purpose of recycling steel scraps, help promote reuse of steel products.
Production organization of graphite electrodes can be divided as 10 stages the next:
Raw material transporting
Kneading
Extruding
Baking
Pitch Impregnation
Re-Baking
Graphitization
Machining
Inspection
Shipment
The conventional sizes for graphite electrodes come from diameter 10″ (inch) to 30″(inch) and from length of 60″(inch) to 110″(inch). The weights are ranging from 123 Kgs (10″ x 60″) to 2060 Kgs (30″ x 110″).
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