Europe's largest economy, Germany, recently activated an emergency plan to manage gas supplies that the natural gas could be rationed if supplies are disrupted or disrupted by a stand-off over Russian demands to pay for fuel in rubles.  

German Vice-Chancellor, minister of economy and climate protection, said Germany's gas supplies were secure for now, but he urged consumers and businesses to reduce consumption, saying "every kilowatt of electricity counts." 

Germany's gas network regulator can ration gas if supplies run short. Plants would be the first to be affected. Special treatment will be provided to private families, hospitals, and other important institutions.  

Half of Germany's 41.5 million households use natural gas for heating, and industry consumption accounts for a third of the country's 100 billion cubic meters of gas demand in 2021.  

The price of many energy and commodities like the natural flake graphite could be affected.

Natural flake graphite  are widely used in advanced refractories and coatings in the metallurgical industry. Such as magnesia carbon bricks, crucibles, etc. Pyrotechnic material stabilizer in military industry, desulfurization accelerator in smelting industry, pencil lead in light industry, carbon brush in electrical industry, electrode in battery industry, catalyst in fertilizer industry, etc. After in-depth processing of flake graphite, graphite milk can be produced, which is used in lubricants, mold release agents, wire drawing agents, conductive coatings, etc. It can also produce expanded graphite, which is used as raw material for flexible graphite products, such as flexible graphite seals and flexible graphite composite products.

coating

As a functional filler of coatings, flake graphite is mainly used in anti-corrosion coatings, fire-retardant coatings and conductive coatings.

As an anti-corrosion material, it is an anti-rust primer made of carbon black, talc and oil, which has good chemical and solvent corrosion resistance; if chemical pigments such as zinc yellow are added to the formula, the anti-rust effect is better.

Expandable graphite is used as a fireproof filler, which is a graphite interlayer compound obtained by chemical or electrochemical treatment with natural graphite flakes as raw materials. Under the condition of heat, the volume of expandable graphite expands rapidly (up to 300 times), which suffocates the flame, and at the same time generates expandable materials, which can isolate the flame, delay or interrupt the spread of the flame, and is non-flammable, with good flexibility and high surface energy. , the carbonized layer has good strength. However, the volume and amount of the expansion body should be selected appropriately. The test shows that 150um particles, 30% expansion ratio, and 5% dosage are the most suitable.

Graphite flakes can be directly used as carbon-based conductive fillers or made into composite conductive fillers for conductive coatings. However, due to the large amount of graphite flakes added, the performance of the coating will become brittle and its application will be limited. Therefore, measures should be taken to further improve the conductivity of graphite and effectively reduce the amount of graphite flakes added. The domestic Tianhua Chemical Machinery Research Institute has developed a high-temperature corrosion-resistant resin as the base material and large flake solid graphite flakes with strong electrostatic conductivity as the main aggregate, which has high body strength and good wear resistance.

The chopped fiber material with good resistance to deformation and cracking is a solvent-free thick-film conductive coating with functional fillers. The coating has the characteristics of anti-corrosion medium penetration, low curing residual stress, good resistance to matrix deformation and cracking, stable construction performance, and long-term static electricity conduction. It can be used for electrostatic conductive coating on the inner wall of crude oil storage tanks. According to data reports, electroless plating technology is used to coat graphite powder with metals, such as copper, nickel, silver, etc. to prepare composite conductive fillers, which are used in conductive coatings in an amount of 30%, which not only has good electrical conductivity, but also has further corrosion resistance. improve.

High-quality natural flake graphite manufacturer

Luoyang Moon & Star New Energy Technology Co., LTD, founded on October 17, 2008, is a high-tech enterprise committed to developing, producing, processing, selling, and technical services of lithium-ion battery anode materials. After more than ten years of development, the company has gradually developed into a diversified product structure with natural graphite, artificial graphite, composite graphite, intermediate phase and other harmful 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.

 

 

As the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to develop, there is growing concern about the potential disruption of Russia's energy supply. Geopolitical premiums have pushed up the price of crude oil and natural gas, and the energy price is expected to remain high in the short term. Affected by this, the market price of the natural flake graphite may keep rising.

Inquery us