Monocrystalline whisker

A monocrystalline whisker is a filament of material that is structured as a single, defect-free crystal. Typical whisker materials are graphite, alumina, iron, or silicon. Single-crystal whiskers of these (and some other) materials are noted for having very high tensile strength (on the order of 10-20 GPa). Whiskers are used in some composites, but large-scale fabrication of defect-free whiskers is very difficult.

Prior to the discovery of carbon nanotubes, single-crystal whiskers had the highest tensile strength of any materials known, and were featured regularly in science fiction as materials for fabrication of space elevators, arcologies, and other large structures.

See also

• whisker (metallurgy) - Self-organizing metallic whisker-shaped structures that cause problems with electronics.

References

• "Mechanical and Physical Properties of Whiskers", CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 55th edition.