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GraphiteIndustrial Applications
Graphite is valued for its good conductivity of heat and electricity and high refractoriness. The utility of graphite is dependent largely upon its type viz., flake, lumpy or amorphous. The flake type graphite is found to possess extremely low resistivity to electrical conductance. The electrical resistivity decreases with the increase of flaky particles. Also the bulk density decreases progressively as the particles become more and more flaky. Because of this property in flake graphite, it finds a large use in the manufacture of carbon electrodes, plates and brushes required in the electrical industry and dry cell batteries. In the manufacture of plates and brushes, however, flake graphite has been substituted to some extent by synthetic, amorphous, crystalline graphite and acetylene black. Graphite electrodes serve to give conductivity to the mass of manganese dioxide used in dry batteries.
The manufacture of crucibles is served best by flake graphite, although crystalline graphite is also used.
Graphite crucibles are manufactured by pressing a mixture of graphite, clay and sand and fixing the pressed article at a high temperature. They are used for melting non-ferrous metals, especially brass and aluminium. Coarse-grained flake graphite from Malagasy is regarded as standard for crucible manufacture.
Flake graphite containing 80 to 85% carbon is used for crucible manufacture; 93% carbon and above is preferred for the manufacture of lubricants, and graphite with 40 to 70% carbon is utilized for foundry facings. Natural graphite, refined or otherwise pure, having a carbon content not less than 95% is used in the manufacture of carbon rods for dry batterry cells. This grade of graphte is imported from Ceylon and England. After the second World War, clay-graphite crucibles were replaced by silicon carbide crucibles bonded by graphite. Such crucibles are now manufactured in the USA and other advanced countries.
All grades of graphite, especially high grade amorphous and crystalline graphite having collodial property i.e. remaining in suspension in oil, are used as lubricants. Graphite has an extraordinarily low co-efficient of friction under parctically all working conditions. This property is invaluable in lubricants. It diminishes friction and tends to keep the moving surface cool. Dry graphite as well as graphite mixed with grease and oil is utilized as a lubricant for heavy and light bearings. Graphite grease is used as a heavy-duty lubricant where high temperatures may tend to remove the grease.
These days, artificially prepared graphite has replaced natural graphite to a great extent. Artificial graphite is prepared by heating a mixture of anthracite, high grade coal or petroleum coke, quartz and saw-dust at a temperature of 3000C, out of contact with air. Graphite carbon is deposited as residue. Manufactured graphite is also used for making furnace electrodes and for modes in the manufacture of chlorine and caustic soda.
A considerable quantity of graphite is used in foundry-facing to prevent the moulding sands from adhering to cast articles. Here too, flake graphite is preferred. Dust or powder of flake, crystalline-graphite are also used.
Graphite bricks of high purity are used as moderators in an atomic reactor. In the nuclear field graphite is a good and convenient material as a moderator but this is only true if the graphite is low in certain neutron absorbing elements notably boron and the rare earths and is of consistent quality particularly with regard to density and orientation. The latest invention in the use of graphite is in the blast furnace operation, experimented by Oesterreichisch - Alpine Mountangesellschaft, Austria. In view of the lack of cooking coal in Australia, it is likely that the use of graphite in blast furnace will be developed on a commercial scale.
Other uses of graphite are in the manufacture of paints and pencils. Finely powdered lump graphite of 70% purity is generally employed in paint manufacture. Graphite is a great water repellent and thus makes an ideal protective coating for wood.
Amorphous graphite is generally used in the manufacture of lead for pencils. The suitability of graphite for this purpose is judged by the dark streak it leaves on the paper. It is best done by amorphous graphite. The finer the powder the darker is the smear. The blackness of the smear decreases with increase in flakiness of the graphite. Synthetic graphite, thoughit has less ash content and a fine paricle size, produces very little smears and so it is unsuitable for pencil manufacture.
Manganese
Uses
Steel becomes harder when it is alloyed with manganese. It has similar applications when alloyed with aluminum and copper. Hardened steel is important in the manufacture of construction materials like I-beams (24% of manganese consumption), machinery (14% of manganese consumption), and transportation (13% of manganese consumption).
Manganese dioxide is used to: manufacture ferroalloys; manufacture dry cell batteries (it's a depolarizer); to "decolorize" glass; to prepare some chemicals, like oxygen and chlorine; and to dry black paints. Manganese sulfate (MnSO4) is used as a chemical intermediate and as a micronutrient in animal feeds and plant fertilizers. Manganese metal is used as a brick and ceramic colorant, in copper and aluminum alloys, and as a chemical oxidizer and catalyst. Potassium permanganate (KMnO4) is used as a bactericide and algicide in water and wastewater treatment, and as an oxidant in organic chemical synthesis.
Lithium
Industrial Applications
Lithium minerals, lithium and its compounds have assumed great military and civilian significance after the Second World War. Some of the lithium compounds are considered to have been used as rocket propellants and in nuclear reactors. Lithium has two stable isotopes with mass numbers of 6 and 7 with relative abundance of 7.5 and 92.5%. The former isotope is used for the production of tritium, extra heavy hydrogen, an intermediate explosive in the manufacture of hydrogen bombs. It serves as well in the preparation of lithium deutride, which is also used in the manufacture of the hydrogen bomb.
It is suggested that lithium perchlorate is used as a rocket propellant. Lithium - 7 metaphosphate and pyrophosphate are valuable constituents in fused salt nuclear breeder blankets because of their relatively high thermal stability and low absorption of thermal neutrons by phosphorous compounds. Lithium hydroxide and lithium onropound of lithium hydride yields 22.5 cubic feet of gas and that of lithium boro-hydride 66 cubic feet.
Ceramics and Glass
Lithium minerals are used in glass and ceramic industries for their lithia content. Lepidolite, spodumene and amblygonite are used along with glass sand-batch for the manufacture of lithium glass. It has the lowest melting point and lowest annealing temperature of all alkali glasses. Lithium reduces its co-efficient of expansion. It is reported that lithium minerals have also been used in the manufacture of ceramic bodies.
Chemicals
Lithium minerals are mainly utilized in the manufacture of lithium carbonate which is the starting point for the manufacture of various chemicals which are used in lubricating greases, ceramics, air-conditioning and refrigeration, alkaline storage battery, bearing and welding aluminium, bleaching, chlorination of water in swimming pools and several other purposes.
Lithium chloride is largely used in refrigeration and air-conditioning plants as it is one of the most hygroscopic of all inorganic salts. Lithium hydroxide is used for absorbing carbon dioxide in submarines and as a constituent of respirators. Chloride and fluoride compounds are used in welding and brazing.
Dry lithium hypochlorite is used as a bleach in laundries and for chlorination of swimming pools.
The uses of lithium chemicals are expanding in their many ramifications.
Metallic
It finds small use in alloying with metals of higher melting points like Cr, Al, Mg, Cu, Pb and Zn. It imparts toughness and tensile strength to the alloy. Lithium is also used as a scavenging material for metallic minerals and gases in the metallurgy of several metals.
Lithium can also be used in phycotrophic medication as a mood stabalizer - but thats old news and not very lucrative
(source:me)
All uses sources from Source: http://www.mineralszone.com
Graphite is valued for its good conductivity of heat and electricity and high refractoriness. The utility of graphite is dependent largely upon its type viz., flake, lumpy or amorphous. The flake type graphite is found to possess extremely low resistivity to electrical conductance. The electrical resistivity decreases with the increase of flaky particles. Also the bulk density decreases progressively as the particles become more and more flaky. Because of this property in flake graphite, it finds a large use in the manufacture of carbon electrodes, plates and brushes required in the electrical industry and dry cell batteries. In the manufacture of plates and brushes, however, flake graphite has been substituted to some extent by synthetic, amorphous, crystalline graphite and acetylene black. Graphite electrodes serve to give conductivity to the mass of manganese dioxide used in dry batteries.
The manufacture of crucibles is served best by flake graphite, although crystalline graphite is also used.
Graphite crucibles are manufactured by pressing a mixture of graphite, clay and sand and fixing the pressed article at a high temperature. They are used for melting non-ferrous metals, especially brass and aluminium. Coarse-grained flake graphite from Malagasy is regarded as standard for crucible manufacture.
Flake graphite containing 80 to 85% carbon is used for crucible manufacture; 93% carbon and above is preferred for the manufacture of lubricants, and graphite with 40 to 70% carbon is utilized for foundry facings. Natural graphite, refined or otherwise pure, having a carbon content not less than 95% is used in the manufacture of carbon rods for dry batterry cells. This grade of graphte is imported from Ceylon and England. After the second World War, clay-graphite crucibles were replaced by silicon carbide crucibles bonded by graphite. Such crucibles are now manufactured in the USA and other advanced countries.
All grades of graphite, especially high grade amorphous and crystalline graphite having collodial property i.e. remaining in suspension in oil, are used as lubricants. Graphite has an extraordinarily low co-efficient of friction under parctically all working conditions. This property is invaluable in lubricants. It diminishes friction and tends to keep the moving surface cool. Dry graphite as well as graphite mixed with grease and oil is utilized as a lubricant for heavy and light bearings. Graphite grease is used as a heavy-duty lubricant where high temperatures may tend to remove the grease.
These days, artificially prepared graphite has replaced natural graphite to a great extent. Artificial graphite is prepared by heating a mixture of anthracite, high grade coal or petroleum coke, quartz and saw-dust at a temperature of 3000C, out of contact with air. Graphite carbon is deposited as residue. Manufactured graphite is also used for making furnace electrodes and for modes in the manufacture of chlorine and caustic soda.
A considerable quantity of graphite is used in foundry-facing to prevent the moulding sands from adhering to cast articles. Here too, flake graphite is preferred. Dust or powder of flake, crystalline-graphite are also used.
Graphite bricks of high purity are used as moderators in an atomic reactor. In the nuclear field graphite is a good and convenient material as a moderator but this is only true if the graphite is low in certain neutron absorbing elements notably boron and the rare earths and is of consistent quality particularly with regard to density and orientation. The latest invention in the use of graphite is in the blast furnace operation, experimented by Oesterreichisch - Alpine Mountangesellschaft, Austria. In view of the lack of cooking coal in Australia, it is likely that the use of graphite in blast furnace will be developed on a commercial scale.
Other uses of graphite are in the manufacture of paints and pencils. Finely powdered lump graphite of 70% purity is generally employed in paint manufacture. Graphite is a great water repellent and thus makes an ideal protective coating for wood.
Amorphous graphite is generally used in the manufacture of lead for pencils. The suitability of graphite for this purpose is judged by the dark streak it leaves on the paper. It is best done by amorphous graphite. The finer the powder the darker is the smear. The blackness of the smear decreases with increase in flakiness of the graphite. Synthetic graphite, thoughit has less ash content and a fine paricle size, produces very little smears and so it is unsuitable for pencil manufacture.
Manganese
Uses
Steel becomes harder when it is alloyed with manganese. It has similar applications when alloyed with aluminum and copper. Hardened steel is important in the manufacture of construction materials like I-beams (24% of manganese consumption), machinery (14% of manganese consumption), and transportation (13% of manganese consumption).
Manganese dioxide is used to: manufacture ferroalloys; manufacture dry cell batteries (it's a depolarizer); to "decolorize" glass; to prepare some chemicals, like oxygen and chlorine; and to dry black paints. Manganese sulfate (MnSO4) is used as a chemical intermediate and as a micronutrient in animal feeds and plant fertilizers. Manganese metal is used as a brick and ceramic colorant, in copper and aluminum alloys, and as a chemical oxidizer and catalyst. Potassium permanganate (KMnO4) is used as a bactericide and algicide in water and wastewater treatment, and as an oxidant in organic chemical synthesis.
Lithium
Industrial Applications
Lithium minerals, lithium and its compounds have assumed great military and civilian significance after the Second World War. Some of the lithium compounds are considered to have been used as rocket propellants and in nuclear reactors. Lithium has two stable isotopes with mass numbers of 6 and 7 with relative abundance of 7.5 and 92.5%. The former isotope is used for the production of tritium, extra heavy hydrogen, an intermediate explosive in the manufacture of hydrogen bombs. It serves as well in the preparation of lithium deutride, which is also used in the manufacture of the hydrogen bomb.
It is suggested that lithium perchlorate is used as a rocket propellant. Lithium - 7 metaphosphate and pyrophosphate are valuable constituents in fused salt nuclear breeder blankets because of their relatively high thermal stability and low absorption of thermal neutrons by phosphorous compounds. Lithium hydroxide and lithium onropound of lithium hydride yields 22.5 cubic feet of gas and that of lithium boro-hydride 66 cubic feet.
Ceramics and Glass
Lithium minerals are used in glass and ceramic industries for their lithia content. Lepidolite, spodumene and amblygonite are used along with glass sand-batch for the manufacture of lithium glass. It has the lowest melting point and lowest annealing temperature of all alkali glasses. Lithium reduces its co-efficient of expansion. It is reported that lithium minerals have also been used in the manufacture of ceramic bodies.
Chemicals
Lithium minerals are mainly utilized in the manufacture of lithium carbonate which is the starting point for the manufacture of various chemicals which are used in lubricating greases, ceramics, air-conditioning and refrigeration, alkaline storage battery, bearing and welding aluminium, bleaching, chlorination of water in swimming pools and several other purposes.
Lithium chloride is largely used in refrigeration and air-conditioning plants as it is one of the most hygroscopic of all inorganic salts. Lithium hydroxide is used for absorbing carbon dioxide in submarines and as a constituent of respirators. Chloride and fluoride compounds are used in welding and brazing.
Dry lithium hypochlorite is used as a bleach in laundries and for chlorination of swimming pools.
The uses of lithium chemicals are expanding in their many ramifications.
Metallic
It finds small use in alloying with metals of higher melting points like Cr, Al, Mg, Cu, Pb and Zn. It imparts toughness and tensile strength to the alloy. Lithium is also used as a scavenging material for metallic minerals and gases in the metallurgy of several metals.
Lithium can also be used in phycotrophic medication as a mood stabalizer - but thats old news and not very lucrative
(source:me)All uses sources from Source: http://www.mineralszone.com
