cementite

American  

[si-men-tahyt] / sɪˈmɛn taɪt /

noun

Metallurgy.

1. an iron carbide, Fe 3 C, a constituent of steel and cast iron, sometimes with part of its iron replaced by another metal, as manganese.

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cementite British  

/ sɪˈmɛntaɪt /

noun

1. the hard brittle compound of iron and carbon that forms in carbon steels and some cast irons. Formula: Fe 3 C

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Etymology

Origin of cementite

First recorded in 1885–90; cement + -ite ¹

Example Sentences

One of these is pure iron, and the other is pure cementite.

From The Working of Steel Annealing, Heat Treating and Hardening of Carbon and Alloy Steel by Colvin, Fred H. (Fred Herbert)

At that moment, in fact, the ferrite, cementite or Page 110 pearlite which previously existed has lost its identity by everything going into the solid solution called austenite.

From The Working of Steel Annealing, Heat Treating and Hardening of Carbon and Alloy Steel by Colvin, Fred H. (Fred Herbert)

Many of the properties of steel, as they vary with carbon content, can be linked up with the increasing amount of this hard carbide cementite, distributed in very fine particles through the softer iron.

From The Working of Steel Annealing, Heat Treating and Hardening of Carbon and Alloy Steel by Colvin, Fred H. (Fred Herbert)

But we may anticipate by saying that some of the iron unites with all the carbon to form a new substance, very hard, a carbide which has been called "cementite."

From The Working of Steel Annealing, Heat Treating and Hardening of Carbon and Alloy Steel by Colvin, Fred H. (Fred Herbert)

As more and more carbon is contained in the alloy—for steel is a true alloy—it begins to appear as graphite, and its properties counteract the remaining brittle cementite.

From The Working of Steel Annealing, Heat Treating and Hardening of Carbon and Alloy Steel by Colvin, Fred H. (Fred Herbert)