Many of us need to know steel. We use it with your everyday living. But have you ever wondered how to produce it? And just what will it take to produce it? Basically the steel is produced inside a big factory in fact it is cooked inside a giant stove called furnace. And the cooking itself takes a lot of ingredients inside.
The Blast Furnace and Electric Arc Furnace methods include the two major techniques for producing iron and steel products. Scrap melting may be the major process utilizing Electric Arc Furnaces. Recently, industry competition has grown to be increasingly intense, elevating the requirement for a more efficient melting process. Capacities with the transformers are getting larger and electric furnaces are increasing larger worldwide. In this manufacturing environment, graphite materials who have durability for larger-power operation are needed a lot more for that use as Graphite Electrode (GE).
GE are made of carbon. Carbon is a nonmetal element by having an atomic number of 6 and 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 which can be strictly selected.
Graphite features a higher heat transfer rating, potential to deal with higher temperatures, and contains more strength against thermal shock than many other materials. Moreover, it excels in machinability to meet what’s needed for any broader array of dimensions. Thus, graphite may be the optimum material for scrap-melting electrodes.
GE are easily consumed at high temperatures due to the reaction with oxygen to become CO, CO2. The oxidation of electrodes starts at 500oC and accelerates its speed at 800oC (inside furnace). Usage of graphite electrodes by sublimation occurs at 3400o. The velocity of sublimation is proportional for the increase of current density.
Meanwhile, utilization of quality GE brings about contributions to saving energy and environmental conservation. Electric arc furnaces, together with the main function of recycling steel scraps, promote reuse of steel products.
Production organization of graphite electrodes could be divided as 10 stages as follows:
Raw material transporting
Kneading
Extruding
Baking
Pitch Impregnation
Re-Baking
Graphitization
Machining
Inspection
Shipment
The conventional sizes for graphite electrodes are from diameter 10″ (inch) to 30″(inch) and from period 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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