Practical aspects for characterizing air oxidation of graphite

The efforts for designing a meaningful and acceptable standard test method for characterization of kinetic parameters of air oxidation of graphite helped identify several practical issues that must be considered for the development of such a test. Using standard size (and shape) specimens, large enough in size to accommodate the inherent local microstructure differences between graphite samples, resulted in non-uniform oxidation profiles and preferential binder oxidation; this was not expected based on the linearity of Arrhenius plots and the (large) values of activation energy. It was found that the transition between the regimes 1 and 2 of graphite oxidation occurs gradually, depending both on the oxidation temperature and rate of oxygen supply. Nevertheless, measuring oxidation rates obtained on standard size samples provides a basis for a meaningful comparison among materials, which may serve as much needed information for predictive models.