Kinetics and mechanisms of non-isothermal oxidation of graphite in air

The non-isothermal oxidation kinetics and mechanisms of the graphite in air was studied by TG and SEM. The oxidation rate increases rapidly with the increase of temperature before 30% weight loss, then turns to steady, and decreases sharply with the increase of temperature after 85% weight loss. SEM observation shows that the oxidation starts from pores both in surface and interior, and the oxidation extent is nearly uniform through the whole body in the initial stage. Kinetics results represent the activation energy strongly depends on the weight loss. Combining SEM and kinetics analysis, the controlling mechanisms and activation energy of non-isothermal oxidation of graphite are obtained.