Production of natural graphite particles with high electrical conductivity by grinding in alcoholic vapors Original Research Article

Natural graphite particles with a high crystallinity, which were sieved to obtain particles less than 63 μm, were ground with a ball mill under a dry atmosphere and various alcoholic vapors such as i-C3H8OH, n-C3H8OH, C2H5OH, and CH3OH. The size and flakiness of the ground products and the electrical conductivity of the films made from the ground products were experimentally examined. Grinding the particles under alcoholic vapors slowly reduced the particle size and was similar to grinding in dry air, but grinding in alcoholic vapors produced flakier products. The graphite films, which were composed of flakier particles and were ground in alcoholic vapor, displayed higher electrical conductivities than the feed graphite particles. The products ground in C2H5OH, i-C3H7O and n-C3H7OH vapors had 50% or less of the specific resistance of the feed particles.