Canada Carbon updates status of graphite-purity project for ASTM

Canada Carbon issued an update on the progress of its standard-designation project for standards group ASTM International, which asked the company for pure graphite samples that could be used as a benchmark in nuclear applications, Canada Carbon said late last week.

The company originally was contacted in September by ASTM to provide samples of its thermally upgraded Miller lump/vein graphite to serve as an international benchmark for chemical-analysis purposes for graphites that are considered to be nuclear grade. ASTM aims to set an international set of designations regarding graphite materials.

"We were honored to be asked in late September 2015 to provide ASTM with samples of the thermally upgraded Miller graphite (99.9998 percent purity) for the development of a new nuclear standard for natural graphite,” Executive Chairman and CEO R. Bruce Duncan said. “Additionally, representatives of Canada Carbon, while attending the December 2015 ASTM conference in Austin, Texas, were invited to join the ASTM Subcommittee DO2.F0, Manufactured Carbon and Graphite Products. We are pleased to accept the invitations."

The company said eight analytical data sets have been conducted by four international laboratories in the U.S. and European Union. The tests that were conducted utilized glow-discharge mass spectrometry. The company said these findings will be compared with those achieved with alternative methods, including the study of X-ray emission and coupled-plasma mass spectrometry.