• Carbon letters
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.135-146
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• 2015

Graphite can be classified into natural graphite from mines and artificial graphite. Due to its outstanding properties such as light weight, thermal resistance, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, chemical stability, and high-temperature strength, artificial graphite is used across various industries in powder form and bulk form. Artificial graphite of powder form is usually used as anode materials for secondary cells, while artificial graphite of bulk form is used in steelmaking electrode bars, nuclear reactor moderators, silicon ingots for semiconductors, and manufacturing equipment. This study defines artificial graphite as bulk graphite, and provides an overview of bulk graphite manufacturing, including isotropic and anisotropic materials, molding methods, and heat treatment.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 2021

Bulk graphite is manufactured using graphite scrap as the filler and phenolic resin as the binder. Graphite scrap, which is the by-product of processing the final graphite product, is pulverized and sieved by particle size. The relationship between the density and porosity is analyzed by measuring the mechanical properties of bulk graphite. The filler materials are sieved into mean particle sizes of 10.62, 23.38, 54.09, 84.29, and 126.64 ㎛. The bulk graphite density using the filler powder with a particle size of 54.09 ㎛ is 1.38 g/㎤, which is the highest value in this study. The compressive strength tends to increase as the bulk graphite density increases. The highest compressive strength of 43.14 MPa is achieved with the 54.09 ㎛ powder. The highest flexural strength of 23.08 MPa is achieved using the 10.62 ㎛ powder, having the smallest average particle size. The compressive strength is affected by the density of bulk graphite, and the flexural strength is affected by the filler particle size of bulk graphite.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2021

The change in the open porosity of bulk graphite as a function of the uniaxial molding pressure during manufacturing is studied using artificial graphite powder. Subsequently, the graphite is impregnated to determine the effect of the open porosity on the impregnation efficiency and to improve the density of the final bulk graphite. Bulk graphite is manufactured with different uniaxial molding pressures after mixing graphite powder, which is the by-product of processing the final graphite products and phenolic resin. The bulk density and open porosity are measured using the Archimedes method. The bulk density and open porosity of bulk graphite increase as the molding pressure increases. The open porosity of molded bulk graphite is 25.35% at 30 MPa and 29.84% at 300 MPa. It is confirmed that the impregnation efficiency increases when the impregnation process is performed on a specimen with large open porosity. In this study, the bulk density of bulk graphite molded at 300 MPa is 11.06% higher than that before impregnation, which is the highest reported increase. Therefore, it is expected that the higher the uniaxial pressure, the higher the density of bulk graphite.

• Carbon letters
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.132-134
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• 2015

When manufacturing bulk graphite, pores develop within the bulk during the carbonization process due to the volatile components of the fillers and the binders. As a result, the physical properties of bulk graphite are inferior to the theoretical values. Impregnants are impregnated into the pores generated in the carbonization process through pressurization and/or depressurization. The physical properties of bulk graphite that has undergone impregnation and re-carbonization processes are outstanding. In the present study, a green body was manufactured by molding with natural graphite flakes and phenolic resin at 45 MPa. Bulk graphite was manufactured by carbonizing the green body at 700 and it was subsequently impregnated with impregnants having viscosity of 25.0 cP, 10.3 cP, and 5.1 cP, and the samples were re-carbonized at $700^{\circ}C$. The above process was repeated three times. The open porosity of bulk graphite after the final process was 22.25%, 19.86%, and 18.58% in the cases of using the impregnant with viscosity of 25.0 cP, 10.3 cP, and 5.1 cP, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.108-114
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• 2021

In the manufacturing of bulk graphite, pores produced by vaporization and discharge of volatile materials in binders during carbonization reduce the density of bulk graphite, which adversely affects the electrical conductivity, strength and mechanical properties. Therefore, an impregnation process is introduced to fill the pores and increase the density of bulk graphite. In this study, bulk graphite is prepared by varying the viscosity of the impregnant. The microstructure of bulk graphite is observed. The flexural strength and electrical resistivity are measured. As the viscosity of the impregnants decreases and the number of impregnations increases, it is shown that the number of pores decreases. The density before impregnation is 1.62 g/㎤. The density increases to 1.67 g/㎤ and porosity decreases by 18.6 % after three impregnations using 5.1 cP impregnant, resulting in the best pore-filling effect. After three times of impregnation with a viscosity of 5.1 cP, the flexural strength increases by 55.2 % and the electrical resistivity decreases by 86.76 %. This shows that a slight increase in density due to the pore-filling effect improves the properties of bulk graphite.

• Carbon letters
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.142-145
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• 2014

Isotropic synthetic graphite scrap and phenolic resin were mixed, and the mixed powder was formed at 300 MPa to produce a green body. New bulk graphite was produced by carbonizing the green body at $700^{\circ}C$, and the bulk graphite thus produced was impregnated with resin and re-carbonized at $700^{\circ}C$. The bulk density of the bulk graphite was $1.29g/cm^3$, and the porosity of the open pores was 29.8%. After one impregnation, the density increased to $1.44g/cm^3$ while the porosity decreased to 25.2%. Differences in the pore distribution before and after impregnation were easily confirmed by observing the microstructure. In addition, by using an X-ray diffractometer, the degrees-of-alignment (Da) were obtained for one side perpendicular to the direction of compression molding of the bulk graphite (the "top-face"), and one side parallel to the direction of compression molding (the "side-face"). The anisotropy ratio calculated from the Da-values obtained was 1.13, which indicates comparatively good isotropy.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.101-107
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• 2021

Pores produced by carbonization in bulk graphite process degrade the mechanical and electrical properties of bulk graphite. Therefore, the pores of bulk graphite must be reduced and an impregnation process needs to be performed for this reason. In this study, bulk graphite is impregnated by varying the viscosity of the impregnant. The pore volume and pore size distribution, according to the viscosity of the impregnant, are analyzed using a porosimeter. The total pore volume of bulk graphite is analyzed from the cumulative amount of mercury penetrated. The volume for a specific pore size is interpreted as the amount of mercury penetrating into that pore size. This decreases the cumulative amount of mercury penetrating into the recarbonized bulk graphite after impregnation because the viscosity of the impregnant is lower. The cumulative amount of mercury penetrating into bulk graphite before impregnation and after three times of impregnation with 5.1cP are 0.144 mL/g and 0.125 mL/gm, respectively. Therefore, it is confirmed that the impregnant filled the pores of the bulk graphite well. In this study, the impregnant with 5.1 cP, which is the lowest viscosity, shows the best effect for reducing the total pore volume. In addition, it is confirmed by Raman analysis that the impregnant is filled inside the pores. It is confirmed that phenolic resin, the impregnant, exists inside the pores through micro-Raman analysis from the inside of the pore to the outside.

• Composites Research
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.51-56
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• 2021

This paper studied the possibility of manufacturing bulk graphite using coal tar, a precursor of coal tar pitch, as a binder and impregnant. Carbonization was conducted after mixing and molding with natural graphite as a filler and coal tar as a binder. Impregnation-recarbonization was performed five times after carbonization. Coal tar used as impregnant. Measuring density, porosity, compressive strength, and anisotropy ratio was conducted. The maximum density of bulk graphite specimen was 1.76 g/㎤ and the minimum porosity was 15.6% which could be controlled by process control. The highest compressive strength was 20.3 MPa. Then the maximum anisotropic ratio of bulk was shown 0.34 through XRD analysis. Therefore, it was confirmed that it was possible to manufacture artificial graphite in a bulk form by using coal tar as a binder and an impregnant.

• Carbon letters
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.40-44
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• 2013

The bipolar plate is the most important and most costly component of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. The development of a suitable low density bipolar plate is scientifically and technically challenging due to the need to maintain high electrical conductivity and mechanical properties. Here, bipolar plates were developed from different particle sizes of natural and expanded graphite with phenolic resin as a polymeric matrix. It was observed that the particle size of the reinforcement significantly influences the mechanical and electrical properties of a composite bipolar plate. The composite bipolar plate based on expanded graphite gives the desired mechanical and electrical properties as per the US Department of Energy target, with a bulk density of 1.55 $g.cm^{-3}$ as compared to that of ~1.87 $g.cm^{-3}$ for a composite plate based on natural graphite (NG). Although the bulk density of the expanded-graphite-based composite plate is ~20% less than that of the NG-based plate, the I-V performance of the expanded graphite plate is superior to that of the NG plate as a consequence of the higher conductivity. The expanded graphite plate can thus be used as an electromagnetic interference shielding material.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.95-101
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• 2009

This study is the research on the thermal emissivity depending on the bulk graphite's alignment degree. Bulk graphites were manufactured by uni-axial pressing and subsequent heat treatment of natural graphite flakes with organic binder. The samples were prepared to be $0^{\circ}$ (relative to the 002 c-face), $45^{\circ}$, and $90^{\circ}$ (relative to the 100 a-face) for measuring alignment degree. The alignment degree of the sample was measured by XRD. The thermal emissivity was measured by infrared thermal image camera at $100^{\circ}C$ and compared with the value obtained by Infrared spectroscopy. The alignment degree and thermal emissivity of $0^{\circ}$ sample were measured to be 0 and 0.70 respectively. And those of $90^{\circ}$ sample were 0.73 and 0.80 respectively. The emissivity value was correlated with obtained by IR spectroscopy. Therefore it was considered that the thermal emissivity of the bulk graphite is correlated with the alignment degree.