Carbon composites

1. A carbon composite comprising:

at least two carbon microstructures, the carbon microstructures having basal planes stacked together, and the carbon microstructures having an aspect ratio of about 10 to about 500 and being substantially parallel to each other; and

a binding phase disposed between the at least two carbon microstructures;

the binding phase including a binder comprising one or more of the following: SiO 2 ; Si; B; B 2 O 3 ; a metal; or an alloy of the metal; wherein the metal is at least one of aluminum; copper; titanium; nickel; tungsten; chromium; iron; manganese; zirconium; hafnium; vanadium; niobium; molybdenum; tin; bismuth; antimony; lead; cadmium, or selenium,

wherein the binding phase comprises a binder layer and an interface layer bonding one of the at least two carbon microstructures to the binder layer, and the interface layer comprises one or more of the following: a C—O-metal bond; or a metal carbon solution.

2. The carbon composite of claim 1 , wherein the weight ratio of the at least two carbon microstructures relative to the binding phase is about 1:1 to about 4:1.

3. The carbon composite of claim 1 , wherein the binding phase binds the at least two carbon microstructures through mechanical interlocking.

4. The carbon composite of claim 1 , wherein each of the at least two carbon microstructures comprises voids having a size of about 20 nm to about 1,000 nm.

5. The carbon composite of claim 4 , wherein the carbon microstructures have a thickness of about 1 to about 200 microns, a diameter of about 10 to about 500 microns, and a density of about 0.1 to 2 g/cm 3 .

6. The carbon composite of claim 1 , wherein the carbon microstructures comprise microstructures of graphite.

7. The carbon composite of claim 6 , wherein the graphite comprises one or more of the following: expanded graphite; expandable graphite; natural graphite; or synthetic graphite.

8. The carbon composite of claim 1 , wherein the carbon microstructures comprise microstructures of expanded graphite.

9. The carbon composite of claim 1 , wherein the binder comprises one or more of the following: steel; nickel-chromium based alloys; or nickel-copper based alloys.

10. The carbon composite of claim 1 , further comprising one or more of the following: carbon fibers; carbon black; mica; clay; glass fiber; ceramic fibers; or ceramic hollow structures.

11. The carbon composite of claim 1 , wherein the interface layer comprises a C—O-metal bond.

12. The carbon composite of claim 1 , comprising about 50 to about 80 wt. % of the carbon, based on the total weight of the carbon composite.

13. The carbon composite of claim 1 , wherein the carbon composite has a density of about 0.5 to about 10 g/cm 3 .

14. The carbon composite of claim 1 , wherein the composite has at least one of the following properties:

the composite has thermal resistance with a range of operation temperatures from about −65° F. up to about 1200° F.;

the composition has an elastic elongation of greater than 4%;

the composite is chemically resistant to water, oil, brine; and acids;

the composite has a hardness from about 50 in SHORE A up to about 75 in SHORE D scale; and

a sealing force of a sample of the composite at 15% strain and 600° F. is maintained at about 5800 psi without relaxation for at least 20 minutes.

15. The carbon composite of claim 1 , wherein the composite is in the form of a bar, block, sheet, tubular, cylindrical billet, toroid, powder, or pellets.

16. A sheet comprising the carbon composite of claim 1 , wherein the sheet has a thickness of about 10 μm to about 10 cm.

17. A powder comprising the carbon composite of claim 1 , wherein the powder comprises particles having an average size of about 10 μm to about 1 cm.

18. A plurality of pellets comprising the carbon composite of claim 1 , wherein the pellets comprise particles having an average size of about 0.5 cm to about 5 cm.

19. The carbon composite of claim 5 , wherein the carbon microstructures comprise microstructures of expanded graphite.