Carbon, Graphite and Diamond Materials

Carbon, graphite and diamond materials include elements such as vitreous carbon, pyrolytic graphite, hexagonal graphite, and diamond. Carbon and graphite materials have high refractoriness as a result of an extremely high sublimation temperature. Diamond has the highest hardness of all known materials. Pyrolytic graphite is a highly ordered pyrolytic graphite that is produced by Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) and is highly anisotropic. Vitreous carbon is an amorphous carbon artifact. In hexagonal graphite, each carbon atom is covalently bonded to three other surrounding carbon atoms. The flat sheets of carbon atoms are bonded into hexagonal structures. Carbon, graphite and diamond materials are an important part of modern industries.

Carbon, graphite and diamond materials are produced by utilizing many methods. Vitreous carbon is produced by mixing a resin, usually furan, with a pore forming agent, casting it to a near net shape, and then pyrolizing it to drive out the volatile content. Pyrolytic graphite is produced by cracking methane at a very high temperature and allowing the carbon to be deposited on a substrate or mandrel. The resulting material has no grain structure and virtually no porosity. It has extremely large crystallographic planes and can approach a single crystal structure. Carbon graphite is produced by grinding a coke into a fine powder, mixing it with a binder material, molding it into a block or cylinder, baking it to remove volatile content, and then firing it to reach the desired degree of graphitization. Porous graphite has porosity from 70-90% with pore size from 0.2 to 10 microns. Diamond graphite is a very hard material and has properties similar to diamond but it is conducting. Carbon graphite, apart from a diamond graphite structure, also exists in amorphous form. Carbon, graphite and diamond materials have a typical grain structure, purity, isotropy, thermal conductivity, and machinability.

Carbon, graphite and diamond materials are used in many applications. Examples include its use in laboratory and chemical processes, electrical and electronic applications, metallurgy, mechanical, and nuclear applications. Fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and aggregated diamond nanorods are future carbon, graphite and diamond materials.

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  In 1980 we knew of only three forms of carbon, namely diamond, graphite, and amorphous carbon. Today we know there is a whole family of other forms of carbon. The first to be discovered was the...
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