Carbon-based composite electrodes C – TiC/TiB2. Part 1. Synthesis and oxidizability of composites

The main results of a lab-scale technological development of a composite material “Carbon – Titanium Carbide/Titanium Diboride” (C – TiC/TiB2) carbothermal synthesis are presented in the work. Initial components – petroleum coke of various fractional compositions, titanium and boron compounds together with the binder – were mixed and calcinated at 1050 °С in air under the layer of preliminarily calcinated coke. Composite material С – TiC/TiB2 synthesized this way demonstrated a rather high resistivity to oxidation in air. In our mind the result was reached due to the formation of a Ti – C – B – О bonding medium on the surface and between the grains of a carbon material. It was found that resistivity to oxidation and degradation under various temperatures can be controlled with glass boron oxide fine condition, its distribution over the surface and with the rate of its evaporation from the electrode surface. An overall mechanism of the composite electrode oxidation process was proposed and the corresponding kinetic parameters of weight loss rate as a function of temperature were found. The proposed technological procedure of composite electrodes formation may be applied for a wide range of С – МеС/МеВ2 based materials, including electrodes for arc steel-smelting and ore-thermal furnaces, magnesium and aluminium cells.