Nongraphitic structural elements in some polymers of carbon

1. X-ray diffraction patterns of natural and heat-treated anthracites, graphites, pyrolytic carbon, schungite, and polyacetylene contain, besides graphitic reflections, a significant number of other, nongraphitic, reflections. A portion of them is caused by heteroatomic fragments and disappears upon heating, but other reflections, on the other hand, grow during heat treatment. 2. The basic mass of carbonaceous material in the original anthracites, polyacetylene, and schungite exists not in the form of graphitoid substances, but in the form of partially crosslinked, spatially branched carbon chains, containing, perhaps, secondary fragments. 3. During heating, the processes of aromatization and graphitation spread, and the lamellar structure is formed. In a parallel manner, crystalline fragments of nongraphitic nature are formed. 4. Upon heating, anthracites twice transform into the thermoplastic state.