Will Graphene replace Mylar?

Will Graphene replace Mylar?

That's the wrong question, I think. Mylar is simply the support for the conductive aluminum layer in a planar driver - since graphene is as conductive as copper and as strong as steel, there will be no need for the support layer. Imagine pure ribbons, one atom thick, carrying the signal in a magnetic field. They will be the ultimate ribbon driver if the cost and scale-up hurdles can be managed!

Graphene mechanicaly self enclosed spherical shaped Walsh driver?

Mhhhh! Maybe Graphene nano-ribbons are the way to go!

Today, we will have trouble imagining where this stuff is going? A material with these properties can be used in ways we simply can't imagine.

Cone replacement material? Think bigger.
The 'ultimate' ribbon tweeter? Likely.
A mylar-less Magnepan? If it can be fabricated with built in conductive loops, so you don't need wire or QR glued to sheet? Absolutely.

Automotive uses? Engineering uses?

I looked up the Wiki on this stuff and it is way over my head. I'm sure the brain guys are working right now on uses....and ways to make bunches of it real cheap.

Just imagine a paper cut! And its clear too!

Wild how much this stuff stretches out (go getting specs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene ) but also as semi-metal has potential for keeping Moore's Law from running out it's course because of limits inherent in silicon.it could be so think that it is easier to form into conventional drivers the way fibers might be molded into cones the way Kevlar could be molded,shaped,and baked into ubiquitous replacement for polypropylene.At 200 times the strength of steel with inherent reduction in weight and much easier to work into cones it could be the thing in years to come not just in planar sheets.But then again look at price for carbon fibre speakers enclosures,bike frames etc.So price will be as much of challenge as anything in my estimation.Now if we can just get same material for with equal potential storage for those 500 TB drives for $100 to slap all those 4.7 and 25GB discs into your media player.Again they have been promising personal Jet Packs since 1965.I have been waiting for mine since I saw Bond use one in Thundeball when I was a little kid.Meanwhile recent purchaser of Segway two wheel vehicle Jimi Heselden drove one off a 30 ft ravine into a river and died so maybe I'll settle for a stiff cone (my wife just snikckered) before my Jet Pack.Time Marches On!!!!!!!!!!
Chazz

If this is a graphite / carbon long chain, it is possible that it is a conductor or semiconductor.....(properties of both insulator and conductor...) like silicon or germanium. Generally these are 'metaloids'....the elements between metals and non-metals on the periodic chart.

You might think of it as a sheet of 'buckyball'

If it is indeed a conductor, all bets may be off. If an insulator, it may be possible to change the properties thru some kind of doping of strips or coil structures IN the bulk material. You could make Magnepans by the yard....or any length you desire.

I'm gonna look this stuff up. I wonder if it has been characterized yet and what its bulk properties are?

thanks for heads up.