Hafnium(IV) carbide
Encyclopedia
Hafnium carbide is a chemical compound
Chemical compound
A chemical compound is a pure chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical elements that can be separated into simpler substances by chemical reactions. Chemical compounds have a unique and defined chemical structure; they consist of a fixed ratio of atoms that are held together...

 of hafnium
Hafnium
Hafnium is a chemical element with the symbol Hf and atomic number 72. A lustrous, silvery gray, tetravalent transition metal, hafnium chemically resembles zirconium and is found in zirconium minerals. Its existence was predicted by Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869. Hafnium was the penultimate stable...

 and carbon
Carbon
Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...

. With a melting point of about 3900 °C it is one of the most refractory
Refraction (metallurgy)
In metallurgy, refraction is a property of metals that indicates their ability to withstand heat. Metals with a high degree of refraction are referred to as refractory. These metals derive their high melting points from their strong intermolecular forces...

 binary compound
Binary compound
A binary compound is a chemical compound that contains exactly two different elements. Examples of binary ionic compounds include calcium chloride , sodium fluoride , and magnesium oxide , whilst examples of binary covalent compounds include water , carbon monoxide , and sulfur hexafluoride...

s known. However, it has a low oxidation resistance, with the oxidation starting at temperatures as low as 430 °C.

Hafnium carbide is usually carbon deficient and therefore its composition is often expressed as HfCx (x = 0.5 to 1.0). It has a cubic
Cubic crystal system
In crystallography, the cubic crystal system is a crystal system where the unit cell is in the shape of a cube. This is one of the most common and simplest shapes found in crystals and minerals....

 (rock-salt) crystal structure at any value of x.

Hafnium carbide powder is obtained by the reduction
Smelting
Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...

 of hafnium(IV) oxide
Hafnium(IV) oxide
Hafnium oxide is the inorganic compound with the formula HfO2. Also known as hafnia, this colourless solid is one of the most common and stable compounds of hafnium. It is an electrical insulator with a band gap of approximately 6 eV. Hafnium dioxide is an intermediate in some processes that...

 with carbon at 1800 to 2000 °C. A long processing time is required to remove all oxygen. Alternatively, high-purity HfC coatings can be obtained by chemical vapor deposition
Chemical vapor deposition
Chemical vapor deposition is a chemical process used to produce high-purity, high-performance solid materials. The process is often used in the semiconductor industry to produce thin films. In a typical CVD process, the wafer is exposed to one or more volatile precursors, which react and/or...

 from a gas mixture of methane
Methane
Methane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, the principal component of natural gas, and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth. The relative abundance of methane makes it an attractive fuel...

, hydrogen, and vaporized hafnium(IV) chloride
Hafnium(IV) chloride
Hafnium chloride is the inorganic compound with the formula HfCl4. This colourless solid is the precursor to most hafnium organometallic compounds. It functions as a Lewis acid and catalyst for certain alkylation and isomerism reactions...

. Because of the technical complexity and high cost of the synthesis, HfC has a very limited use, despite its favorable properties such as high hardness and melting point.

The magnetic properties of HfCx change from paramagnetic for x ≤ 0.8 to diamagnetic at larger x. An inverse behavior (dia-paramagnetic transition with increasing x) is observed for TaCx, despite its having the same crystal structure as HfCx.
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