Crumpling of a pyrolytic graphite sheet

Crumpled graphite thin film balls were fabricated with Panasonic Pyrolytic Graphite Sheets (PGS). The fractal dimension, mechanical properties, and electrical conductivity of the crumpled PGS balls have been investigated. The universal local fractal dimension of the PGS balls is found to be 2.58, which is consistent with that of paper balls. The crumpled PGS balls show good mechanical property with Young's Modulus of 16-17 N, which is about the same as that of paper balls and elastoplastic paper balls, but with much smaller sizes, thinner film thicknesses, and less weight. In addition, the crumpled PGS balls show good conductivity, slightly higher than that of the PGS film before crumpling. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.