What is the difference between natural graphite and artificial graphite?

OPEC+ is likely to stick to its plan for a small increase in oil production in May despite a surge in oil prices caused by the Ukraine crisis and calls from consumer countries such as the United States for more supply.

Several oil consumers, including the US, have urged producers to boost output further, for the crude price has hit its highest level since 2008 of more than $139 this month. But major OPEC producers including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates did not raise their output targets, and other countries like Russia avoided talking about the subject of Ukraine.  

OPEC+ is made up of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the oil-producing Allies which is led by Russia. Since August 2021, OPEC+ has been sticking to its plan to increase production by 400,000 b/d per month, which will rise slightly to 432,000 b/d from May 1st.

This increase did not mean OPEC+’s concession to consumer countries demanding more oil, but an outcome of an internal recalculation of reference production levels, raising quotas for Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait.

The supply and prices of many other products in global market like the natural graphite will continue to be influenced by the oil supply shortage.

Given that what is prepared from natural graphite is usually artificial graphite in the narrow sense, this paper will only analyze and discuss the differences and links between natural graphite and artificial graphite in the narrow sense.

Crystal structure

The crystal development of natural graphite is relatively complete, the graphitization degree of natural flake graphite is usually above 98%, and the graphitization degree of natural microcrystalline graphite is usually below 93%.

The degree of crystal development of artificial graphite depends on the raw material and the heat treatment temperature. Generally speaking, the higher the heat treatment temperature, the higher the degree of graphitization. At present, the degree of graphitization of artificial graphite produced in the industry is usually less than 90%.

Organizational structure

Natural flake graphite is a single crystal with a relatively simple structure, with only crystallographic defects (point defects, dislocations, stacking faults, etc.), and macroscopically showing anisotropic structural characteristics. The grains of natural microcrystalline graphite are small, the grains are disorderly arranged, and there are pores after the impurities are removed, showing the isotropic structural characteristics on the macroscopic level.

Artificial graphite can be seen as a multi-phase material consisting of a graphite phase transformed by carbonaceous particles such as petroleum coke or pitch coke, a graphite phase transformed by a coal bitumen binder encapsulated around the particles, particle accumulation, or pores formed after heat treatment of coal tar binder, etc.

Physical form

Natural graphite usually exists in powder form and can be used alone, but is usually used in combination with other materials.

There are many forms of artificial graphite, including powder, fiber, and block, while artificial graphite in the narrow sense is usually blocked, which needs to be processed into a certain shape when used.

Physical and chemical properties

Natural graphite and artificial graphite have both commonalities and differences in performance. For example, both natural graphite and artificial graphite are good conductors of heat and electricity, but for graphite powders of the same purity and particle size, natural flake graphite has the best heat transfer performance and electrical conductivity, followed by natural microcrystalline graphite and artificial graphite the lowest.

Graphite has good lubricity and certain plasticity. Natural flake graphite has better crystal development, smaller friction coefficient, best lubricity, and highest plasticity, while dense crystalline graphite and cryptocrystalline graphite are second, and artificial graphite is worse.

High quality graphite manufacturer

Luoyang Moon & Star New Energy Technology Co., LTD, founded on October 17, 2008, is a high-tech enterprise committed to the research and development, production, processing, sales and technical services of lithium ion battery anode materials. After more than 10 years of development, the company has gradually developed into a diversified product structure with natural graphite, artificial graphite, composite graphite, intermediate phase and other negative materials (silicon carbon materials, etc.). The products are widely used in high-end lithium ion digital, power and energy storage batteries.

If you are looking for graphite or lithium battery anode material, click on the needed products and send us an inquiry：sales@graphite-corp.com

China's non-manufacturing purchasing managers index for March was released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing and the Service Industry Survey Center of the National Bureau of Statistics today. An index of business activity for the non-manufacturing sector as a whole fell below 50 percent in March.

In March, China's non-manufacturing business activity index was 48.4%, down 3.2 percentage points from the previous month. The new orders index was 45.7 percent, down 1.9 percentage points from the previous month, indicating a significant slowdown in the growth of supply and demand in the non-manufacturing sector from the previous month.  In terms of sectors, the business activity index and new order index of transportation, accommodation and catering, culture, sports and entertainment, and tourism-related industries all declined significantly from the previous month.

Then the natural graphite of the market may be affected by significant changes, the price will also be volatile, if you want to know the latest news of the natural graphite, welcome to contact us.

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