The cloth-like structure to the left is one of the many
surprising forms curved melt-grown graphite can assume. The large-scale image
shows the splat-cooled nickel drop where the "cloth" and other
dendritic graphene structures formed.
This cloth-like structure and
other novel graphitic artifacts displayed on this website give a hint of what
might be made from single, unbroken graphite crystals. By imposing
suitable wrinkles on otherwise conventional graphite, we might make
"effective composites", or materials
that mimic commercially available carbon-carbon composites[19] mechanically, but
have additional desirable properties.
Raman spectroscopy data for some curved melt-grown graphite samples
reveals this material tends to have a low density of graphene edges. Curved kish
graphite may
thus prove useful as an oxidation-resistant and impermeable structural
material.
