7/4/12 Cementite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cementite
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cementite, also known as iron carbide, is a chemical compound of iron

and carbon, with the formula Fe3C (or Fe2C:Fe). By weight, it is 6.67%
carbon and 93.3% iron. It has an orthorhombic crystal structure.[1] It is a
hard, brittle material,[1] normally classified as a ceramic in its pure form,
though it is more important in metallurgy.

Contents
1 Metallurgy
2 Pure form
Orthorhombic Fe3C. Iron atoms are 3 References
blue. 3.1 Bibliography
4 External links

Metallurgy
In the iron–carbon system (i.e. plain-carbon steels and cast irons) it is a
common constituent because ferrite can contain at most 0.02wt% of
uncombined carbon. Therefore, in carbon steels and cast irons that are
slowly cooled a portion of the elements is in the form of cementite.[2] It
forms directly from the melt in the case of white cast iron. In carbon steel,
it either forms from austenite during cooling or from martensite during
tempering. An intimate mixture with ferrite, the other product of austenite,
forms a lamellar structure called pearlite.

Pure form
Cementite changes from ferromagnetic to paramagnetic at its Curie The iron-carbon phase diagram
temperature of approximately 480 K.[3]

A natural iron carbide (containing minor amounts of nickel and cobalt) occurs in iron meteorites and is called
cohenite after the German mineralogist Emil Cohen, who first described it.[4]

References
1. ^ a b Smith & Hashemi 2006, p. 363.
2. ^ Smith & Hashemi 2006, pp. 366–372.
3. ^ S.W.J. Smith; W. White; S.G. Barker (1911). "The Magnetic Transition Temperature of Cementite". Proc. Phys.
Soc. London 24 (1): 62–69. DOI:10.1088/1478-7814/24/1/310 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1088%2F1478-
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7/4/12 Cementite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

7814%2F24%2F1%2F310) .
4. ^ Vagn F. Buchwald, Handbook of Iron Meteorites, University of California Press 1975.

Bibliography

Smith, William F.; Hashemi, Javad (2006). Foundations of Materials Science and Engineering (4th ed.).
McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-295358-6.

External links
Crystal structure of cementite at NRL (http://cst-www.nrl.navy.mil/lattice/struk/d0_11.html)
Crystal Structure of Cementite, Cambridge University (http://www.msm.cam.ac.uk/phase-
trans/2003/Lattices/cementite.html)

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Categories: Iron compounds Carbides Metallurgy

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