Optical beam deflection (OBD) is a non-contact, non-destructive method of e
valuation of materials. It is a powerful tool for the thermal characterizat
ion of carbon materials, regardless of the morphology, geometry, thickness
and the anisotropy of the sample. The theory of determining the thermal dif
fusivity of materials by OBD is summarized in detail. The efficacy of using
OBD to measure thermal diffusivities is experimentally verified by a study
of metallic samples. Finally, the ability of OBD to distinguish anisotropi
c chemical vapor deposition (CVD) carbon from isotropic CVD carbon is demon
strated by measuring the thermal diffusivities of samples as they are heat
treated at a series of temperatures reaching beyond the graphitization temp
erature, (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.