Recently, China has unveiled plans to restrict exports of graphite—a mineral crucial to the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles (EVs)—on national security grounds.
About Graphite:
It is an opaque, non-metallic carbon polymorph that is blackish silver in colour and metallic to dull in sheen.
Since it resembles metal lead, it is also known colloquially as black lead or plumbago.
It is formed by the metamorphosis of sediments containing carbonaceous material.
It is a naturally occurring form of crystalline carbon.
It is extremely soft, cleaves with very light pressure, and has a very low specific gravity.
In contrast, it is extremely resistant to heat and nearly inert in contact with almost any other material.
These extreme properties give it a wide range of uses in metallurgy and manufacturing.
Molecular structure
It consists of a ring of six carbon atoms closely bonded together hexagonally in widely spaced layers.
The bonds within the layers are strong, but the bonds between the layers are less in number and therefore weaker.
Graphite is a stable form of carbon.
Applications: It is used in pencils, lubricants, crucibles, foundry facings, polishes, arc lamps, batteries, brushes for electric motors, and cores of nuclear reactors.
It is mined extensively in China, India, Brazil, North Korea, and Canada.
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