Carbon in electrical engineering

Because of its properties, the element carbon is the essential or sole constituent of a whole range of materials with diverse applications.

This article [D 2 660] is devoted exclusively to electrical engineering applications, which represent only part of its use. After reviewing the general properties of carbons and graphites 1 , describing some traditional manufacturing processes and new products, we turn to applications involving the passage of electric current:

• electrodes (§ 2.1 and 2.3 ), particularly in electric batteries, where the chemical inertia of carbon is used;

• arc coals 2.2 where the refractoriness and low resistivity of graphite are used;

• Joule effect