Description
Zirconium carbide (ZrC) is an extremely hard refractory ceramic material. It is usually processed by sintering. It has the appearance of a gray metallic powder with cubic crystal structure.
It is used as an abrasive, in metal cladding, in cermets, incandescent filaments and cutting tools. Owing to its good high-temperature mechanical properties, excellent electrical and thermal conductivity, high melting point, and strong chemical resistance, it is a potential coating, oxygen-gettering, or inert matrix material for advanced high-temperature nuclear application. Hafnium-free zirconium carbide can be used as refractory coatings in nuclear reactors. Attributing to its low neutron absorption cross-section and weak damage sensitivity under irradiation, it can be used as the coating of uranium dioxide and thorium dioxide particles of nuclear fuel. In particular, ZrC is being considered as a structural and fission product barrier coating material for TRISO (tri-isotropic) coated nuclear fuel used in high temperature reactors (HTR’s), replacing or in addition to the currently used silicon carbide (SiC).
Nanometer zirconium carbide can be used in hard alloy, nano-structured parts and devices for metallurgical, chemical, aerospace, energy, and aviation industry. It can be used in new insulation thermostat textitles, reformed naylon, functional fiber which can absorb and save heat energy. It is used for the surface coating of metal and other materials, for composite materials as the fabrication of metal matrix, ceramic matrix and polymer nanocomposites, as sintering additives and as grain refining agents or nucleating agents.
References
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zirconium_carbide
[2] Yutai Katoh, Gokul Vasudevamurthy, Takashi Nozawa, Lance L. Snead (2013) Propeties of zirconium carbide for nuclear fuel applications, Journal of Nuclear Materials, 441, 718-742
[3] https://www.nanoparticles-microspheres.com/Products/Zirconium-Carbide-Nanoparticles.html
Chemical Properties
Gray, crystalline solid. Mohs
hardness 8+. Insoluble in
water and hydrochloric acid; soluble in oxidizing
acids and attacked by oxidizers.
Uses
zirconium carbide (ZrC) and Titanium carbide (TiC) are extremely hard refractory metal compounds. TiC, ZrC, VC and NbC are commercially used in tool bits for cutting tools. ZrC is used extensively as coating of UO2 and ThO2 particles of nuclear fuel.
Uses
Zirconium carbide (ZrC) is used for light bulb filaments, for cladding metals to protect them
from corrosion, in making adhesives, and as a high-temperature lining for refractory furnaces. Zirconium carbide (ZrC) is an extremely hard refractory ceramic material, commercially used in tool bits for cutting tools. ZrC has the appearance of a gray metallic powder with cubic crystal structure. It is highly corrosion-resistant. This group IV interstitial transition-metal carbide is also a member of ultrahigh temperature ceramics or UHTC.ZrC appears suitable for application in re-entry vehicles, rocket/scramjet engines, or supersonic vehicles in which low-densities and high-temperature load-bearing capabilities are vital constraints. The mixture of zirconium carbide and tantalum carbide is an important cermet material.
Uses
Incandescent filaments, abrasive, cermet component,
high-temperature electrical conductor,
refractory, metal cladding, cutting tool component.
