There is provided a thermal material comprising an electrode, a film of reduced graphene oxide, a porous membrane that is sandwiched between the electrode and the film of reduced graphene oxide, and an ionic liquid that is disposed within pores of the porous membrane. There is also provided a method of preparing a thermal material. There is further provided a method of changing an article's apparent temperature. There is further provided a device comprising the thermal material as described herein.

There is provided a thermal material comprising an electrode, a film of reduced graphene oxide, a porous membrane that is sandwiched between the electrode and the film of reduced graphene oxide, and an ionic liquid that is disposed within pores of the porous membrane. There is also provided a method of preparing a thermal material. There is further provided a method of changing an article's apparent temperature. There is further provided a device comprising the thermal material as described herein.

A method for preparing needle coke for ultra-high power (UHP) electrodes from heavy oil is provided. In this method, heavy oil is used as a raw material. The size exclusion chromatography (SEC) is conducted with polystyrene (PS) as a packing material to separate out specific components with a relative molecular weight of 400 to 1,000. The ion-exchange chromatography (IEC) is conducted to remove acidic and alkaline components to obtain a neutral raw material. The neutral raw material is subjected to two-stage consecutive carbonization to obtain green coke, and the green coke is subjected to high-temperature calcination to obtain the needle coke for UHP electrodes. The needle coke has a true density of more than 2.13 g/cm.sup.3 and a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of ≤1.15×10.sup.−6/° C. at 25° C. to 600° C.

A method for forming a protective antioxidative barrier on the furnace electrodes using a chemically altered cooling liquid containing an antioxidant additive. This method can be applied to electrodes used in electric arc furnaces and ladle metallurgy furnaces. The method can involve spraying the cooling liquid onto the electrode, thereby forming the protective antioxidative barrier and reducing the oxidation of the electrode.

A method for forming a protective antioxidative barrier on the furnace electrodes using a chemically altered cooling liquid containing an antioxidant additive. This method can be applied to electrodes used in electric arc furnaces and ladle metallurgy furnaces. The method can involve spraying the cooling liquid onto the electrode, thereby forming the protective antioxidative barrier and reducing the oxidation of the electrode.

A hydrogen jet system includes an evacuated recirculation duct, with a pump to circulate gas around the recirculation duct and a control nozzle to form a jet of gas; means to provide hydrogen gas into the duct; and an electrical device to provide energy into the jet of gas so as to form hydrogen atoms. The jet of gas is arranged to pass through a hollow electrode shell defining opposed apertures that are aligned with the jet of gas; and a target electrode is arranged beyond the electrode shell and also aligned with the jet of gas, so that hydrogen atoms would impact with the target electrode. The electrode shell and the target electrode are each connected to an external electrical terminal. The electrode shell and the target electrode may each define heat exchange channels to remove heat energy during operation.

The present disclosure is drawn to plasma treatment heads. In one example, a plasma head can include a dielectric barrier formed of a dielectric material. The dielectric barrier can have a treatment surface and an interior surface opposite of the treatment surface. A first electrode can be embedded within the dielectric barrier beneath the treatment surface. A second electrode can also be embedded within the dielectric barrier beneath the treatment surface and spaced laterally apart from the first electrode. A plurality of injection holes can penetrate through the dielectric plate from the interior surface to the treatment surface. The plurality of injection holes can be located between the first electrode and second electrode.

A system and method is disclosed for monitoring graphite electrodes for use in an electric arc furnace includes receiving an electrode identifiers from a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader configured to interrogate RFID tags in the vicinity of an electric arc furnace (EAF), wherein the RFID tags are attached to electrodes. The electrode identifier is associated with EAF data collected from the EAF and the association is stored in a memory. The association is used for generating current and past operating parameters of the electric arc furnace for specific electrodes. Data for each specific electrode used in the EAF can also be collected for determining performance parameters for specific electrodes.

A method for forming a protective antioxidative barrier on the furnace electrodes using a chemically altered cooling liquid containing an antioxidant additive. This method can be applied to electrodes used in electric arc furnaces and ladle metallurgy furnaces. The method can involve spraying the cooling liquid onto the electrode, thereby forming the protective antioxidative barrier and reducing the oxidation of the electrode.

A method for forming a protective antioxidative barrier on the furnace electrodes using a chemically altered cooling liquid containing an antioxidant additive. This method can be applied to electrodes used in electric arc furnaces and ladle metallurgy furnaces. The method can involve spraying the cooling liquid onto the electrode, thereby forming the protective antioxidative barrier and reducing the oxidation of the electrode.