7/22/2020 Cementite - Wikipedia
Cementite
Cementite (or iron carbide) is a compound of iron and carbon, more precisely an intermediate
transition metal carbide with the formula Fe3C. 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, and is a frequently found and important constituent in ferrous metallurgy. While cementite is
present in most steels and cast irons,[2] it is produced as a raw material in the iron carbide process,
which belongs to the family of alternative ironmaking technologies. The name cementite originated from
the research of Floris Osmond and J. Werth, where the structure of solidified steel consists of a kind of
cellular tissue in theory, with ferrite as the nucleus and Fe3C the envelope of the cells. The carbide
therefore cemented the iron.[3]
Contents
Metallurgy
Pure form
Other iron carbides
References
Bibliography
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.[4]
Therefore, in carbon steels and
cast irons that are slowly cooled,
a portion of the carbon is in the The iron-carbon phase diagram
form of cementite.[5] Cementite
forms directly from the melt in
Orthorhombic Fe3C. Iron atoms are the case of white cast iron. In carbon steel, cementite precipitates
blue. from austenite as austenite transforms to ferrite on slow cooling, or
from martensite during tempering. An intimate mixture with ferrite,
the other product of austenite, forms a lamellar structure called
pearlite.
While cementite is thermodynamically unstable, eventually being converted to austenite (low carbon
level) and graphite (high carbon level) at higher temperatures, it does not decompose on heating at
temperatures below the eutectoid temperature (723 °C) on the metastable iron-carbon phase diagram.
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7/22/2020 Cementite - Wikipedia
Pure form
Cementite changes from ferromagnetic to paramagnetic at its Curie temperature of approximately 480
K.[6]
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.[7] As
carbon is one of the possible minor light alloy components of
metallic planetary cores, the high-pressure/high-temperature
properties of cementite (Fe3C) as a simple proxy for cohenite are
studied experimentally. The figure shows the compressional
behaviour at room temperature.
Other iron carbides Molar volume vs. pressure for
cementite at room temperature.
There are other forms of metastable iron carbides that have been
identified in tempered steel and in the industrial Fischer-Tropsch
process. These include epsilon (ε) carbide, hexagonal close-packed Fe2-3C, precipitates in plain-
carbon steels of carbon content > 0.2%, tempered at 100–200 °C. Non-stoichiometric ε-carbide
dissolves above ~200 °C, where Hägg carbides and cementite begin to form. Hägg carbide, monoclinic
Fe5C2, precipitates in hardened tool steels tempered at 200–300 °C.[8][9] It has also been found
naturally as the mineral Edscottite in the Wedderburn meteorite[10] Characterization of different iron
carbides is not at all a trivial task, and often X-ray diffraction is complemented by Mössbauer
spectroscopy.
References
1. Smith & Hashemi 2006, p. 363
2. Durand-Charre 2003
3. H. K. D. H. Bhadeshia (2020). "Cementite" (https://doi.org/10.1080/09506608.2018.1560984).
International Materials Reviews. 65 (1). doi:10.1080/09506608.2018.1560984 (https://doi.org/10.108
0%2F09506608.2018.1560984).
4. Ashrafzadeh, Milad; Soleymani, Amir Peyman; Panjepour, Masoud; Shamanian, Morteza (2015).
"Cementite Formation from Hematite–Graphite Mixture by Simultaneous Thermal–Mechanical
Activation" (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277605401). Metallurgical and Materials
Transactions B. 46 (2): 813–823. doi:10.1007/s11663-014-0228-3 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs1166
3-014-0228-3).
5. Smith & Hashemi 2006, pp. 366–372
6. S.W.J. Smith; W. White; S.G. Barker (1911). "The Magnetic Transition Temperature of Cementite" (ht
tps://zenodo.org/record/1431493). Proc. Phys. Soc. Lond. 24 (1): 62–69. doi:10.1088/1478-
7814/24/1/310 (https://doi.org/10.1088%2F1478-7814%2F24%2F1%2F310).
7. Vagn F. Buchwald, Handbook of Iron Meteorites, University of California Press 1975
8. Gunnar Hägg, Z. Krist., Vol. 89, p 92-94, 1934.
9. Smith, William F. (1981). Structure and properties of engineering alloys. New York: McGraw-Hill.
pp. 61–62. ISBN 978-0-07-0585607.
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7/22/2020 Cementite - Wikipedia
10. Mannix, Liam (2019-08-31). "This meteorite came from the core of another planet. Inside it, a new
mineral" (https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/this-meteorite-came-from-the-core-of-another-
planet-inside-it-a-new-mineral-20190830-p52mhg.html). The Age. Retrieved 2019-09-14.
Bibliography
Smith, William F.; Hashemi, Javad (2006). Foundations of Materials Science and Engineering (4th
ed.). McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-295358-9.
Durand-Charre, Madeleine (2004). Microstructure of Steels and Cast Irons. Springer. ISBN 978-3-
642-05897-4.
Mössbauer Spectroscopy of Iron Carbides: From Prediction to Experimental Confirmation (https://ww
w.nature.com/articles/srep26184)
External links
Crystal structure of cementite at NRL (https://web.archive.org/web/20090512154354/http://cst-www.n
rl.navy.mil/lattice/struk/d0_11.html)
Hallstedt, Bengt; Djurovic, Dejan; von Appen, Jörg; Dronskowski, Richard; Dick, Alexey; Körmann,
Fritz; Hickel, Tilmann; Neugebauer, Jörg (March 2010). "Thermodynamic properties of cementite
(Fe3C)". Calphad. 34 (1): 129–133. doi:10.1016/j.calphad.2010.01.004 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.
calphad.2010.01.004).
Le Caer, G.; Dubois, J. M.; Pijolat, M.; Perrichon, V.; Bussiere, P. (November 1982).
"Characterization by Moessbauer spectroscopy of iron carbides formed by Fischer-Tropsch
synthesis". The Journal of Physical Chemistry. 86 (24): 4799–4808. doi:10.1021/j100221a030 (http
s://doi.org/10.1021%2Fj100221a030).
Bauer-Grosse, E.; Frantz, C.; Le Caer, G.; Heiman, N. (June 1981). "Formation of Fe7C3 and Fe5C2
type metastable carbides during the crystallization of an amorphous Fe75C25 alloy". Journal of Non-
Crystalline Solids. 44 (2–3): 277–286. doi:10.1016/0022-3093(81)90030-2 (https://doi.org/10.1016%
2F0022-3093%2881%2990030-2).
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