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Carbon as Pure Graphite: Coke and Sand Heated round a Coke Core in an Electric Furnace (Acheson, US 568,323)
Acheson found that carbon heated on its own hardly turns to graphite, but carbon first bound to silicon does. Coke and sand packed round a coke core form silicon carbide when the current heats the core; hotter still, the silicon boils away and the carbon is left as pure graphite, which grows outward as the core.
Result: pure carbon in its graphite form, sorted like native graphite.
Source: E. G. Acheson, US patent 568,323 (1896), pp. 1-3 and drawing (shown above). The furnace runs at hundreds of volts and up to 1000 amperes.
Advanced
2 days
Instructions
1
1
Mix the charge
Mix the charge
Grind and mix powdered coke, sand, salt and sawdust thoroughly, the coke about half the weight (50 parts coke to 50 parts silica and other materials).
Materials for this step:
Metallurgical Coke50 partsTools needed:
Sand
Sodium Chloride - Salt
Sawdust
Mortar and Pestle2
2
Build the furnace
Build the furnace
Build a furnace of firebrick with carbon electrodes through the two end walls. Lay a core of granular coke between the electrodes (Acheson's was 7 ft long by 4 in wide) and pack the mixture all round it.
Materials for this step:
Metallurgical Coke1 granular, for the coreTools needed:
Firebricks
Graphite Electrode3
3
Run the current
Run the current
Turn on the current, at first about 650 V and 50 A. The core heats, and silicon carbide forms round it; as the heat rises further the carbide breaks up, silicon goes off as vapour and graphite is left, carrying more current. Near the end it is about 100 V and 1000 A. Stop before the graphite reaches the walls. Ours: a step-down transformer as the supply.
Tools needed:
Step-Down TransformerGraphite Electrode4
4
Take out the graphite
Take out the graphite
When cool, separate the graphite from the core and the unchanged mixture, and grade it like native graphite.
Tools needed:
Mortar and PestleMaterials
1- 1 granular, for the corePlaceholder
Tools Required
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