Hi all,
Every once in awhile these terms show-up and we may wonder why it's not used more extensively in rod blanks.
Similarly, Boron used to be a sought after ingredient in blanks. I once owned a Winston Boron IIx. I think it had about 5% in the butt for "lightness". A whole lot of bunk.

Graphene (aka Nano Powder) a derivative of graphite, was discovered in the 1960's. It is VERY light and VERY strong.
CTS experimented with Graphene by adding 10% into resin. They found that it made the blank more brittle, however. And made it a better conductor of electricity - think lightning storms. Therefore, CTS did not incorporate graphene into its rod blanks.
The fact that the material conducts electricity so well makes it desirable in the electronic industry. In the fishing rod industry - not so much.
Herb
CTS Rep.

Herb, respecftully, I cannot find any sources that tell me that graphene is a nano powder, or that all nano particles are graphene, or graphite. From what I can determine, graphene is a two dimensional graphite structure, but is not "nano powder." Nano refers to very tiny particles of any material, the nano referring to the size of the particle and not the material. If I am mistaken, please clarify.

If I am not mistaken, all graphite blanks/rods are very good conductors of electricity. I remember one time of lifting a rod high and hearing the sizzle of electricity as an electrical storm approached. Luckily, we got off the water in time.

Here ya go.

[graphenest.com]

[applynano.com]

When I did some reading the last time graphene came up here, I stumbled across at least one place (possibly one of the manufacturers above) claim in a white paper that adding graphene nano particles (really, just thing extremely fine graphite powder) to the resin helped reduce the spread of certain types of fractures. I want to think the percentage was a bit lower than that quoted by Herb. However, I'll defer and trust they guys at CTS. They know blanks and the raw materials far better than I do.

Michael Danek Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Herb, respecftully, I cannot find any sources that
> tell me that graphene is a nano powder, or that
> all nano particles are graphene, or graphite.
> From what I can determine, graphene is a two
> dimensional graphite structure, but is not "nano
> powder." Nano refers to very tiny particles of
> any material, the nano referring to the size of
> the particle and not the material. If I am
> mistaken, please clarify.
>
> If I am not mistaken, all graphite blanks/rods are
> very good conductors of electricity. I remember
> one time of lifting a rod high and hearing the
> sizzle of electricity as an electrical storm
> approached. Luckily, we got off the water in
> time.

I am sure that graphite is a conductor of electricity - but it is my understanding that the addition of graphene powder into the resin increases its conductivity. But the fact that the blank becomes more brittle, in and of itself, is a non-starter for using it in rod blanks.

Thanks Joe V.
Herb

Sent to me by a friend - for the engineers out there:

[advances.sciencemag.org]
Herb

Herb Ladenheim Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sent to me by a friend - for the engineers out
> there:
>
> [advances.sciencemag.org]
> 338
> Herb

That was a good read. Thank you for helping me meet my required learning hours for the month.

By definition: "Graphene is a one-atom thick sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice." - not to be confused with "graphite" which is powdered or solid carbon or woven carbon cloth.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/22/2020 11:41AM by Phil Ewanicki.

Right on, Phil.