Grinding characteristics of crystalline graphite in a low-pressure attrition system

Fine grinding of crystalline graphite was conducted using a dry attrition mill with a vacuum system to investigate the characteristics of size reduction. Low-pressure and high-temperature conditions in the grinding mill were found to greatly improve the efficiency of the size reduction of graphite. Natural flaky graphite of -100 mesh was ground into submicron sizes and more than 90% of the product were able to be reduced below 1mum without disrupting their crystallinity in a short period of time. Reducing the atmospheric pressure in the grinding environment promotes the removal of chemical species, such as oxygen and water molecules adsorbed on the graphite particle, resulting in effective size reduction while maintaining the crystallinity of graphite. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.