Status Quo and Development Prospect of Carbon Graphite Industry

70% of the total carbon and graphite products are carbon for aluminum, including pre-baked anodes for conduction and reduction (about 0.55 tons of pre-baked anodes are consumed per ton of aluminum), carbon blocks and graphite for masonry aluminum electrolytic cell linings Blocks, semi-graphite carbon blocks and other high temperature and corrosion resistant materials.

20% of the total carbon and graphite products are metallurgical carbon products represented by electric arc furnace steelmaking. Including regular power (RP), high power (HP), ultra-high power (UHP) graphite electrodes, carbon electrodes, pastes (electrode paste, anode paste, rough seam paste, bottom paste) and other products. The main industries involved are: electric arc furnace steelmaking, calcium carbide, industrial silicon, yellow phosphorus, corundum, ferroalloy, special steel, flux, magnesium industry and other metals and non-metals as conductive continuous consumable materials during smelting.

The above two categories belong to the traditional carbon products, the total amount is already in excess, the overall profit margin is not high, and the competition is fierce.

6-8% of the total carbon and graphite products are special graphite products, including isostatic graphite, high-strength, high-density, high-purity and high-modulus graphite, carbon-based composite materials (carbon and graphite as the body and ceramic materials, metal materials, organic high Molecular materials composite), fine structure graphite, graphite for nuclear reactors, carbon materials for bioengineering materials, high temperature lubricants, activated carbon, carbon/graphite corrosion-resistant materials for chemical industry, carbon graphite materials for machinery, carbon graphite materials for electromechanical industry, etc. . Such products cover a wide range of fields, and new uses are constantly being developed.

2-4% of the total carbon graphite products are new carbon graphite materials, such as carbon fibers and their fabrics, carbon fiber reinforced composite materials, flexible graphite materials, porous carbon, carbon cloth, carbon felt, pyrolytic carbon and pyrolytic graphite, Carbon molecular sieve, C60, carbon nanotube, carbon alloy, graphene, glass carbon, plastic molding carbon, porous carbon, COPNA resin, etc. Such products belong to the field of new carbon graphite materials, and some are still in the research and development stage.

It is particularly noteworthy that at the end of the 20th century, the birth of C60, carbon nanotubes and carbon alloys reflected the tremendous progress in carbon science. The theoretical tensile strength of carbon nanotubes is 100 times that of steel, and the density is only 1/6 of that of steel. Depending on the structure, carbon nanotubes can exhibit the properties of metals and semiconductors, and can be used as quantum switches to reduce the size of today's computers to 1/100 of the original. The theoretical specific surface area of carbon nanotubes can reach 8000m/g, which can be used as electrode materials for electric double layer supercapacitors. achieve high specific power. The test results show that carbon nanotubes have extremely strong hydrogen storage capacity and may be the best choice for hydrogen storage and transportation materials for fuel cells in the future.

At present, carbon materials have been widely used in metallurgy, chemical industry, electronics, electrical appliances, machinery and other industries, as well as nuclear energy and aerospace industries, and even as a physiological patch material for the human body. Carbon materials have become indispensable structural and functional materials in modern industry.

Experts say that the 19th century is actually the century of steel materials, the 20th century is the century of silicon materials, and the 21st century is the century of carbon materials. To sum up, the carbon graphite industry has infinite bright development prospects.