GrafTech

Last updated
GrafTech International Ltd.
Company type Public company
NYSE:  EAF
Russell 1000 Index component
Founded1886;138 years ago (1886)
Headquarters
Number of locations
14
Area served
International
Key people
David J. Rintoul, Chairman & CEO
Products Graphite electrodes
Petroleum coke
RevenueIncrease2.svg $1.363 billion (YTD 2018)
Increase2.svg $0.624 billion (YTD 2018)
Total assets Increase2.svg $1.502 billion (2018)
Total equity Decrease2.svg -$1.038 billion (2018)
Owner Brookfield Asset Management (55%)
Number of employees
1,370 (2018)
Website www.graftech.com
Footnotes /references
[1]

GrafTech International Ltd. is a manufacturer of graphite electrodes and petroleum coke, which are essential for the production of electric arc furnace steel and other metals. The company is headquartered in Brooklyn Heights, Ohio and has manufacturing facilities in Calais, France, Pamplona, Spain, Monterrey, Mexico, and St. Marys, Pennsylvania. [1]

Contents

History

The company was founded in 1886 as the National Carbon Company, which was then acquired by Union Carbide in 1917 and became its Carbon Products Division. [2]

In 1914, the company introduced the first 12-inch diameter graphite electrodes. [2]

In 1956, the company received an Academy Award for the development and production of a high-efficiency yellow flame carbon for motion picture color photography. [2]

Between 1956–1978, the company developed high performance carbon fibers; this was recognized in 2003 with a National Historic Chemical Landmark from the American Chemical Society. [2]

In 1985, the company developed advanced technology for carbon/carbon composite material used in spacecraft. [2]

Union Carbide was reorganized in 1989, with the Carbon Products Division renamed as the UCAR Carbon Company. [3]

In 1990, the company introduced first 30-inch diameter graphite electrodes for UHP DC arc furnaces. [2]

In 1995, the company developed new graphite for the US Advanced Battery Consortium for a lithium-ion battery in electric vehicles. [2]

In 1995, the company became a public company via an initial public offering. [4]

In 1999, the company developed first natural graphite-based heat spreaders for electronic thermal management. [2]

In 2002, the company changed its name from UCAR to Graftech. [4]

In 2004, the company introduced optimized pinless joint design for large-diameter graphite electrodes. [2]

In 2007, the company commercialized high-temperature insulation solutions for the polysilicon and solar energy industries. [2]

In 2010, the company launched high thermal conductivity SPREADERSHIELD™ products for electronics and lighting applications. [2]

In 2010, GrafTech acquired two companies: Seadrift Coke LP, a manufacturer of petroleum coke, which is an essential component in the production of graphite electrodes; and C/G Electrodes LLC, which manufactures graphite electrodes. [5]

In March 2011, the company acquired Micron Research Corporation, a manufacturer of superfine-grained graphite. [6]

In October 2011, the company acquired advanced carbon composite manufacturer Fiber Materials. Fiber Materials was sold in 2016. [7]

In 2011, the company was awarded two historical markers by the Ohio Historical Society. One is for pioneering battery research made at Parma by Lewis Urry and National Carbon Company. The other recognizes the Lakewood facility’s long history and National Carbon Company. [8]

In August 2015, GrafTech was acquired by Brookfield Asset Management. [9] [10]

In 2017, the company sold its NeoGraf and Advanced Graphite Materials divisions to focus on graphite electrodes and petroleum coke. [11]

In April 2018, the company once again became a public company via an initial public offering. [12]

Controversies

On April 1, 1998, the company was subject to a class action lawsuit for allegedly artificially inflating stock price. In 2000, the company settled the lawsuit for $40.5 million. [13]

In April 1998, the company was fined $110 million by the United States Department of Justice [14] and in July 2001, the company was fined €50.4 million by the European Commission [15] for participating in an international price fixing cartel with 7 other firms in the market for graphite electrodes.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graphite</span> Allotrope of carbon, mineral, substance

Graphite is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on a large scale for uses in pencils, lubricants, and electrodes. Under high pressures and temperatures it converts to diamond. It is a good conductor of both heat and electricity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cast iron</span> Iron-carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2% and silicon content between 1 and 3%

Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its carbon appears: white cast iron has its carbon combined into an iron carbide named cementite, which is very hard, but brittle, as it allows cracks to pass straight through; grey cast iron has graphite flakes which deflect a passing crack and initiate countless new cracks as the material breaks, and ductile cast iron has spherical graphite "nodules" which stop the crack from further progressing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carbon fibers</span> Material fibers about 5–10 μm in diameter composed of carbon

Carbon fibers or carbon fibres are fibers about 5 to 10 micrometers (0.00020–0.00039 in) in diameter and composed mostly of carbon atoms. Carbon fibers have several advantages: high stiffness, high tensile strength, high strength to weight ratio, high chemical resistance, high-temperature tolerance, and low thermal expansion. These properties have made carbon fiber very popular in aerospace, civil engineering, military, motorsports, and other competition sports. However, they are relatively expensive compared to similar fibers, such as glass fiber, basalt fibers, or plastic fibers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union Carbide</span> American chemical company

Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) is an American chemical company. UCC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical Company. Union Carbide produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers before reaching consumers. Some are high-volume commodities and others are specialty products meeting the needs of smaller markets. Markets served include paints and coatings, packaging, wire and cable, household products, personal care, pharmaceuticals, automotive, textiles, agriculture, and oil and gas. The company is a former component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reinforced carbon–carbon</span> Graphite-based composite material

Carbon fibre reinforced carbon (CFRC), carbon–carbon (C/C), or reinforced carbon–carbon (RCC) is a composite material consisting of carbon fiber reinforcement in a matrix of graphite. It was developed for the reentry vehicles of intercontinental ballistic missiles, and is most widely known as the material for the nose cone and wing leading edges of the Space Shuttle orbiter. Carbon-carbon brake discs and brake pads have been the standard component of the brake systems of Formula One racing cars since the late 1970s; the first year carbon brakes were seen on a Formula One car was 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petroleum coke</span> Solid carbon-rich material

Petroleum coke, abbreviated coke, pet coke or petcoke, is a final carbon-rich solid material that derives from oil refining, and is one type of the group of fuels referred to as cokes. Petcoke is the coke that, in particular, derives from a final cracking process—a thermo-based chemical engineering process that splits long chain hydrocarbons of petroleum into shorter chains—that takes place in units termed coker units. Stated succinctly, coke is the "carbonization product of high-boiling hydrocarbon fractions obtained in petroleum processing ". Petcoke is also produced in the production of synthetic crude oil (syncrude) from bitumen extracted from Canada's tar sands and from Venezuela's Orinoco oil sands. In petroleum coker units, residual oils from other distillation processes used in petroleum refining are treated at a high temperature and pressure leaving the petcoke after driving off gases and volatiles, and separating off remaining light and heavy oils. These processes are termed "coking processes", and most typically employ chemical engineering plant operations for the specific process of delayed coking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carbon nanofiber</span> Structured carbon fibers

Carbon nanofibers (CNFs), vapor grown carbon fibers (VGCFs), or vapor grown carbon nanofibers (VGCNFs) are cylindrical nanostructures with graphene layers arranged as stacked cones, cups or plates. Carbon nanofibers with graphene layers wrapped into perfect cylinders are called carbon nanotubes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SGL Carbon</span> German manufacturing company

SGL Carbon SE is a European company based in Germany. It is one of the world's leading manufacturers of products from carbon.

The National Carbon Company was a dominant American manufacturer of batteries and lighting products in the early 20th century. It was founded in 1886 by the former Brush Electric Company executive W. H. Lawrence, in association with Myron T. Herrick, James Parmelee, and Webb Hayes, son of U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes, in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1890, National Carbon merged with Thomson-Houston, Standard Carbon, and Faraday Carbon. In 1906 it invested in what became the Eveready Battery Company, which it purchased in 1914. National Carbon was acquired in 1917 by Union Carbide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conductive textile</span> Fabric which can conduct electricity

A conductive textile is a fabric which can conduct electricity. Conductive textiles known as lamé are made with guipé thread or yarn that is conductive because it is composed of metallic fibers wrapped around a non-metallic core or has a metallic coating. A different way of achieving conductivity is to weave metallic strands into the textile.

Carbide-derived carbon (CDC), also known as tunable nanoporous carbon, is the common term for carbon materials derived from carbide precursors, such as binary (e.g. SiC, TiC), or ternary carbides, also known as MAX phases (e.g., Ti2AlC, Ti3SiC2). CDCs have also been derived from polymer-derived ceramics such as Si-O-C or Ti-C, and carbonitrides, such as Si-N-C. CDCs can occur in various structures, ranging from amorphous to crystalline carbon, from sp2- to sp3-bonded, and from highly porous to fully dense. Among others, the following carbon structures have been derived from carbide precursors: micro- and mesoporous carbon, amorphous carbon, carbon nanotubes, onion-like carbon, nanocrystalline diamond, graphene, and graphite. Among carbon materials, microporous CDCs exhibit some of the highest reported specific surface areas (up to more than 3000 m2/g). By varying the type of the precursor and the CDC synthesis conditions, microporous and mesoporous structures with controllable average pore size and pore size distributions can be produced. Depending on the precursor and the synthesis conditions, the average pore size control can be applied at sub-Angstrom accuracy. This ability to precisely tune the size and shapes of pores makes CDCs attractive for selective sorption and storage of liquids and gases (e.g., hydrogen, methane, CO2) and the high electric conductivity and electrochemical stability allows these structures to be effectively implemented in electrical energy storage and capacitive water desalinization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tokai Carbon</span> Japanese chemicals and materials company

Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. is a Japanese company. The company is a developer and stockist of graphite material for use in nuclear power, particularly electrical discharge machining electrode, high temperature, and mechanical applications.

The Boulton Carbon Company was a manufacturing company located in Cleveland, Ohio, US, from 1881 to 1886. It was devoted to the manufacture of carbon points used for arc lighting. The company was organized in 1881 by W. H. Boulton and Willis U. Masters and formally incorporated in 1883. A controlling interest in the company was acquired in 1886 by a group of investors led by Washington H. Lawrence. In 1886, Lawrence reorganized the Boulton Carbon Company as the National Carbon Company. Under the leadership of Lawrence, the National Carbon Company became the dominant carbon company in the United States and was one of the founding members of the Union Carbide & Carbon Company in 1917.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acheson process</span>

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Roger Bacon was an American physicist and inventor at the Parma Technical Center of National Carbon Company in suburban Cleveland, Ohio, where he invented graphite fibers in 1958.

A dual carbon battery is a type of battery that uses graphite as both its cathode and anode material. Compared to lithium-ion batteries, dual-ion batteries (DIBs) require less energy and emit less CO2 during production, have a reduced reliance on critical materials such as Ni or Co, and are more easily recyclable.

Structural batteries are multifunctional materials or structures, capable of acting as an electrochemical energy storage system while possessing mechanical integrity.

Conductive agents are used to ensure electrodes have good charge and discharge performance. Usually, a certain amount of conductive material is added during the production of the pole piece, and the micro current is collected between the active material and the current collector to reduce the micro current. The contact resistance of the electrode accelerates the rate of movement of electrons, and at the same time, can effectively increase the migration rate of lithium ions in the electrode material, thereby improving the charge and discharge efficiency of the electrode. The conductive agent carbon black is used for improving the conductivity of the electrodes and decreasing the resistance of interaction.

Hard carbon is a solid form of carbon that cannot be converted to graphite by heat-treatment, even at temperatures as high as 3000 °C. It is also known as char, or non-graphitizing carbon. More colloquially it can be described as charcoal.

The piezoelectrochemical transducer effect (PECT) is a coupling between the electrochemical potential and the mechanical strain in ion-insertion-based electrode materials. It is similar to the piezoelectric effect – with both exhibiting a voltage-strain coupling - although the PECT effect relies on movement of ions within a material microstructure, rather than charge accumulation from the polarization of electric dipole moments.

References

  1. 1 2 "GrafTech International Ltd. 2018 3rd Quarter Form 10-Q Quarterly Report". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "A history of innovation and growth" (PDF). Graftech. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-12-15. Retrieved 2018-12-15.
  3. "Union Carbide: History". Union Carbide. Archived from the original on 2011-05-27. Retrieved 2011-06-01.
  4. 1 2 Funk, John (July 17, 2010). "GrafTech rides smart-phone wave to profitability and expansion". Cleveland Plain Dealer .
  5. "GrafTech Agrees to Acquire Seadrift Coke L.P. and C/G Electrodes LLC, Concludes $260 Million Revolving Credit Facility Refinancing and Reports GrafTech's First Quarter 2010 Results" (Press release). Business Wire. April 29, 2010.
  6. "Micron Research Corporation announces sale to GrafTech International" (Press release). Carter Morse. March 9, 2011. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  7. "Edgewater Capital Partners Acquires Fiber Materials, Inc. from GrafTech International Holdings, Ltd" (Press release). Edgewater Capital Partners. December 8, 2016. Archived from the original on March 7, 2017. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  8. "Remarkable Ohio".
  9. MCCAFFERTY, RACHEL ABBEY (August 17, 2015). "Brookfield Asset Management affiliate completes acquisition of GrafTech International". Crain Communications .
  10. "Brookfield Completes Acquisition of GrafTech" (Press release). Business Wire. August 17, 2015.
  11. MCCAFFERTY, RACHEL ABBEY (October 15, 2017). "Lakewood company has new name, same focus". Crain Communications .
  12. "GrafTech Announces the Pricing of Its Initial Public Offering" (Press release). Business Wire. April 18, 2018.
  13. "UCAR International, Inc. Securities Litigation". April 1, 1998.
  14. "United States Department of Justice fine for graphite electrode cartel" (Press release). United States Department of Justice. April 7, 1998.
  15. "European Commission fine for graphite electrode cartel" (Press release). July 18, 2001.