EXTRUDED GRAPHITE MARKET ANALYSIS

Market Challenges And Opportunities

Market Dynamics

Extruded graphite is economical to produce and is used in various applications. For instance, electrodes made with extruded graphite, are used in electric arc steel production. Extruded graphite is also used in the manufacturing of various hot zone parts, used in the furnaces such as heating elements, rails, shelves, plates, and fasteners. Owing to its high temperature stability and chemical resistant properties, extrude graphite is extensively used in the chemicals industry. It is used in various corrosive applications such as vessel linings, bricks, tiles, heat exchangers, wear plates, and bearing among others. Thus, the wide applicability of extruded graphite is a major factor propelling growth of the global extruded graphite market.

Extrusion process is used to produce larger particle size (around 0.45 inch), as compared to the isotactic graphite (4-10 micron). The production of very fine isostatically molded graphite involves additional steps to mill the raw material to fine powder thus, taking longer to manufacture than extruded graphite. Additionally, the manufacturing cost of extruded graphite is about half the cost of the isostatically molded graphite. Thus, the economical production of extruded graphite is another factor, supporting growth of the global extruded graphite market.