Cementite

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Cementite

Cementite or iron carbide is a chemical compound

Chemical compound

A chemical compound is a Chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical element Chemical bond together in a fixed mass ratio that can be split into simpler substances....
with the formula Fe₃C (or Fe₂C:Fe), and an orthorhombic crystal structure. It is a hard, brittle material, normally classified as a ceramic

Ceramic

File:Bridge from dental porcelain.jpgFile:Qing vase p1070256.jpgA ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetal solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling....
in its pure form, though it is more important in metallurgy

Metallurgy

Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic Chemical element, their intermetallics, and their mixtures, which are called alloys....
.

It forms directly from the melt in the case of white cast iron

Cast iron

Cast iron usually refers to Gray iron, but also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys, which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy....
. In carbon steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.14% by weight , depending on grade. Carbon is the most cost-effective alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten....
, it either forms from austenite

Austenite

Austenite is a metallic non-magnetic solid solution of iron and an alloying element. In plain-carbon steel, austenite exists above the critical eutectoid temperature of 1000 K ; other alloys of steel have different eutectoid temperatures....
during cooling or from martensite

Martensite

Martensite, named after the German :category:metallurgists Adolf Martens , most commonly refers to a very hard form of steel crystalline structure, but it is also any crystal structure that is formed by displacive transformation....
during tempering

Tempering

Tempering is a heat treatment technique for metals, alloys and Toughened glass. In steels, tempering is done to "toughen" the metal by transforming brittle martensite into bainite or a combination of ferrite and cementite....
.

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Encyclopedia

Cementite or iron carbide is a chemical compound

Chemical compound

Ceramic

Metallurgy

Cast iron

Steel

Austenite

Martensite

Tempering

Ferrite (iron)

Ferrite or alpha iron is a materials science term for iron, or a solid solution with iron as the main constituent, with a body centred cubic crystal structure....
, the other product of austenite, to form lamellar structure

Lamellar structure

Lamellar structures or microstructures are composed of fine, alternating layers of different materials in the form of lamellae . They are often observed in cases where a phase transformation front moves quickly, leaving behind two solid products, as in rapid cooling of eutectic or eutectoid systems....
s called pearlite

Pearlite

Pearlite is a Phase , Lamellar structure structure composed of alternating layers ofFerrite and cementite that occurs in some steels and cast irons....
and bainite

Bainite

Bainite is a phase that exists in steel microstructures after certain heat treatments. First described by Davenport ES and Edgar Bain, it is one of the phase transformation that may form when austenite is cooled past a critical temperature of 723 ?C ....
. Much larger lamellae, visible to the naked eye, make up the structure of Damascus steel

Damascus steel

Damascus steel is a hot-forging steel used in Middle Eastern swordmaking from about 1100 to 1700 AD. Damascus swords were of legendary sharpness and strength, and were apocryphally claimed to be able to cut through lesser quality European swords and even rock....
.

Fe₃C is also known as cohenite, particularly when found mixed with nickel

Nickel

Nickel is a chemical element, with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge....
and cobalt

Cobalt

Cobalt is a hard, lustrous, grey metal, a chemical element with symbol Co and atomic number 27. Although cobalt-based colors and pigments have been used since ancient times, and miners have long used the name kobold ore for some minerals, cobalt was only discovered in 1735 by Georg Brandt....
carbides in meteorite

Meteorite

A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives an impact with the Earth's surface. While in space it is called a meteoroid....
s. This forms a hard, shiny, silver mineral which was first described by E. Weinschenk in 1889.

Cementite

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