Pyrolytic carbon

Pyrolytic carbon is a material similar to graphite, but with some covalent bonding between its graphene sheets as a result of imperfections in its production.

Pyrolytic carbon is man-made and is thought not to be found in nature. Generally it is produced by heating a hydrocarbon nearly to its decomposition temperature, and permitting the graphite to crystalize (pyrolysis).

One method is to heat synthetic fibers in a vacuum, producing carbon fibers.

It is used in high temperature applications such as missile nose cones, rocket motors, heat shields, laboratory furnaces, in graphite-reinforced plastic, coating nuclear fuel particles, and in biomedical prostheses.

It was developed in the late 1950s as an extension of the work on refractory vapor deposition of metals.