Start here · Essential guide
The Carbon Family From Graphite to Graphene
A plain-language map of the structural forms of carbon, from diamond and graphite to graphene, nanotubes, fullerenes and amorphous carbon, and what separates them.
Carbon And Hard Materials
Graphite, graphene, nanotubes, carbon fiber and other forms of carbon.
Start here · Essential guide
A plain-language map of the structural forms of carbon, from diamond and graphite to graphene, nanotubes, fullerenes and amorphous carbon, and what separates them.
How the pore structure of activated carbon gives it an enormous internal surface, and why that makes it useful for filtration, adsorption and related porous carbons.
How precursor fibers are stabilized and carbonized into strong, light carbon fiber, and where carbon fiber reinforced composites are typically used.
The structure of carbon nanotubes and how they are used as additives and reinforcements in polymers, coatings and electrodes, with realistic limits.
Why carbon fiber embedded in a carbon matrix keeps its strength at extreme temperatures, how it is made, and where it is used in brakes and heat shields.
How amorphous diamond-like carbon coatings resemble and differ from crystalline diamond films in hardness, friction, temperature limits, cost and typical uses.
What fullerene cage molecules are, what nanodiamond particles are, how the two relate within the carbon family, and where each is studied or used.
What single-layer graphene offers, from strength and conductivity to flexibility, which uses are real today, and where expectations have outrun practice.
How graphite's layered structure makes it a dry lubricant, an electrode and a refractory material, with notes on natural versus synthetic graphite and its limits.
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