If you have the need for electrodes, graphite rods may be the best choice. This material is made from carbon, and it is not considered to be a metal. However, it has the capability to conduct electrical current like metal. This provides a lot of important advantages. Let’s take a closer look at this material and explore some of its benefits
Why Choose Graphite Rods?
Graphite electrodes are made by combining coal-tar pitch with petroleum coke. The material goes through an extrusion process to turn it into rods, and it’s then heated at very high temperatures, and this makes the carbon atoms rearrange into graphite. It is technically carbon that has been graphitized, and this is not the same as graphite naturally mined from the earth. However, synthetically produced electrodes provide superior performance and conductivity to metal electrodes.
Benefits
Graphite offers many important benefits. For example, it’s relatively soft and can easily be machined or cut into a variety of shapes and sizes. Thermal expansion is much less than with copper electrodes. This gives you a more stable spark and heating process.
Even though graphite gets very hot, it does not go into a liquid state. Instead, it transforms into a gas when it reaches a temperature of 6152 degrees Fahrenheit (3400 degrees Celsius). In other words, there is no welding to deal with like with metals. Here are more benefits:
Resistant to thermal shock – as graphite heats, it expands evenly, so it’s less likely to form cracks.
Lightweight – its density is much less than copper. If you need to handle and replace large electrodes, weight is an important consideration.
Wear – as graphite rods (electrodes) reach higher currents, the wear factor lessens. This is not the case with copper electrodes, so you get much longer wear from graphite for the same usage.
