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Zirconium carbide

 
Sci-Tech Dictionary: zirconium carbide
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(′zər′kō·nē·əm ′kär′bīd)

(inorganic chemistry) ZrC Hard, gray crystals that are soluble in water, soluble in acids; as powder, it ignites spontaneously in air; melts at 3400°C, boils at 5100°C; used as an abrasive, refractory, and metal cladding, and in cermets, incandescent filaments, and cutting tools.

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Zirconium carbide[1]
Zirconium carbide
Other names zirconium(IV) carbide
Identifiers
CAS number 12070-14-3
Properties
Molecular formula ZrC
Molar mass 103.235 g/mol
Appearance gray refractory solid
Density 6.73 g/cm3
Melting point

3532°C
Boiling point

5100°C
Solubility in water insoluble
Solubility soluble in concentrated HSO4, HF, HNO3
Structure
Crystal structure Cubic, cF8
Space group Fm3m, No. 225
Coordination
geometry		 Octahedral
Thermochemistry
Std enthalpy of
formation ΔfHo298		 −207 kJ/mol (extrapolated to stoichiometric composition)[2]
Hazards
EU classification not listed
Except where noted otherwise, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C, 100 kPa)
Infobox references

Zirconium carbide (ZrC) is an extremely hard refractory ceramic material,[3] commercially used in tool bits for cutting tools. It is usually processed by sintering. It has the appearance of a gray metallic powder with cubic crystal structure. It is highly corrosion resistant.

Like most carbides of refractory metals, zirconium carbide is sub-stoichiometric, i.e., it contains carbon vacancies. At carbon contents higher than approximately ZrC0.98 the material contains free carbon.[2]

ZrC reacts with water and acids and is pyrophoric.

The mixture of zirconium carbide and tantalum carbide is an important cermet material.

Hafnium-free zirconium carbide and niobium carbide can be used as refractory coatings in nuclear reactors. Zirconium carbide is used extensively as coating of uranium dioxide and thorium dioxide particles of nuclear fuel. The coating is usually deposited by thermal chemical vapor deposition in a fluidized bed reactor.

It is also used as an abrasive, in metal cladding, in cermets, incandescent filaments and cutting tools.

References

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Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2009)
  1. ^ Lide, David R. (1998), Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (87 ed.), Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, pp. 4-96, ISBN 0849305942 
  2. ^ a b Baker, Floyd B.; Storms, Edmund K.; Holley Jr., Charles E. (1969), "Enthalpy of formation of zirconium carbide", J. Chem. Eng. Data 14: 244–246, doi:10.1021/je60041a034 
  3. ^ Measurement and theory of the hardness of transition- metal carbides , especially tantalum carbide. Schwab, G. M.; Krebs, A. Phys.-Chem. Inst., Univ. Muenchen, Munich, Fed. Rep. Ger. Planseeberichte fuer Pulvermetallurgie (1971), 19(2), 91-110


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