The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia Encyclopedia World Factbook Columbia Gazetteer American Heritage Coll. Generally, a carbide is prepared by heating a metal, metal oxide, or metal hydride with carbon or a carbon compound. Barium carbide reacts similarly. Aluminum carbide reacts with water to yield methane.
Some carbides are unaffected by water, e.g., chromium carbide and silicon carbide .
Silicon carbide, almost as hard as diamond, is used as an abrasive. Tungsten carbide, also very hard, is used for cutting edges of machine tools. Iron carbides are present in steel, cast iron, and some other iron alloys. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Click here to shop the Bartleby Bookstore .