Tantalum carbide

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## Overview[edit | edit source]

Tantalum carbide (TaC) is an extremely hard refractory ceramic material, commercially used in tool bits for cutting tools. The hardness even exceeds that of diamond [1]. It is a heavy, brown powder usually processed by sintering, and an important cermet material. It is sometimes used as a fine-crystalline additive to tungsten carbide alloys. Tantalum carbide has the distinction of being the stoichiometric binary compound with the highest known melting point, at 4150 K (3880°C) [2]. The substoichiometric compound TaC0.89 has a higher melting point, near 4270 K (4000°C)[3].

When used as a mould coating, it produces a low friction surface.

Tantalum carbide-graphite composite material, developed in Los Alamos National Laboratory, is one of the hardest materials ever synthesized.

Dusts from grinding can be flammable.

Substances to avoid are: flammable gases (dust may form explosive mixtures with gases)

## See also[edit | edit source]

* niobium carbide.

## References[edit | edit source]

1. ↑ Nature's Building Blocks ANA-Z guide to the elements, ' J. Emsley, 2001, ISBN 0-19-850340-7, p. 421
2. ↑ CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 85th Edition, 2004, ISBN 0-8493-0485-7
3. ↑ The Inorganic Chemistry of Materials: How to Make Things Out Of Elements, P.J. van der Put, 1998, ISBN 0306457318, p. 129

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