Carbon soft/plastic consistency

In the most general approximation, carbon paste is a compact mixture of a carbonaceous material with a suitable binder, representing the two-component basic formula [1-5,10-13]. These simple configurations with typical paste (soft, plastic) consistency are also occasionally termed as binary carbon pastes [5, 16], whereas their classification as unmodified carbon pastes is a more complex task, requiring further commentary (see later). 

Soft/plastic consistency As the term carbon paste suggests, a mixture of powdered graphite with liquid binder is a paste-like, incompact mass whose consistency has been related - for many, amusingly - to a peanut butter by the inventor himself [ 1, 2, 7]. This characterization fits quite well for classical mixtures from mineral oils [2,4,38-40,50-52], whereas carbon pastes made of silicone fluids are markedly thicker (up to nearly solid state [16,58]) and, in contrast to the typically matte appearance of most C/MO (mineral oil) configurations, the C/SO and C/SG formulas may exhibit a fine metallic luster [5, 16]. Needless to say that the resultant thickness of carbon pastes depends on the mutual ratio of both main components. 

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