Additional projects / Materials & heat
Thin carbon and graphite heaters
Trials of conductive coatings and fragile carbon materials as thin electrical heaters.
Open the numbered review →Paintable graphite coatings
Photos 365–368
A paintable-heater experiment using flake graphite in a sodium-silicate binder on glass. Copper tape formed the electrical contacts and provided places to attach wires. A variable transformer, or Variac, let me adjust the power. I also added sand to roughen the surface, aiming to improve the heat it radiated.
Graphite-coated glass heater samples with copper-tape contacts. These experiments explored using a conductive coating to heat a surface.
A closer view of a graphite-coated heater sample and its copper contacts. The textured surface came from experiments with roughening the coating.
Another view of a paintable graphite heater on glass. The coating combined graphite pigment with a sodium-silicate binder, with copper tape providing the electrical connections.
Carbon-paper and graphite samples
Photos 436–437
Experiments with thin heating elements made from fragile carbonized paper and graphite flakes. I was exploring these materials as lightweight, thin heaters.
Another view of the experimental carbon and graphite heating elements. The fragile materials were part of my exploration of thin heater designs.