Strain Rate and Stress Amplitude Effects on the Mechanical Behavior of Carbon Paste Used in the Hall–Héroult Process and Subjected to Cyclic Loadings

Carbon products such as anodes and ramming paste must have well-defined physical, mechanical, chemical, and electrical properties to perform their functions effectively in the aluminum electrolysis cell. The physical and mechanical properties of these products are assigned during the shaping procedure in which compaction stresses are applied to the green carbon paste. The optimization of the shaping process is crucial to improving the properties of the carbon products and consequently to increasing the energy efficiency and decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions of the Hall–Héroult process. The objective of this study is to experimentally investigate the effect(s) of the strain rate, of the stress maximum amplitude, and of the unloading level on the behavior of a green carbon paste subjected to cyclic loading. To this end, experiments consisting of (1) cyclic compaction tests at different maximum stress amplitudes and strain rates, and (2) cyclic compaction tests with different unloading levels were carried out. The study obtained the following findings about the behavior of carbon paste subjected to cyclic loads. The strain rate in the studied range had no effect either on the evolution of the permanent strain as a function of the cycle number, nor on the shape of the stress–strain hysteresis during the cyclic loading. Moreover, samples of the same density that had been subjected to different maximum stress amplitudes in their loading history did not have the same shape of the stress–strain curve. On the other hand, despite having different densities, samples subjected to the same number of cycles produce the same stress–strain curve during loading even though they were subjected to different maximum stress amplitudes in their loading histories. Finally, the level of unloading during each cycle of a cyclic test proved significant; when the sample was unloaded to a lower level of stress during each cycle, the permanent strain as a function of the cycle number was higher.