Factors Controlling Carbide Formation

Three general and interrelated atomic characteristics play an essential part in the formation of carbides (and indeed of all compounds), i.e., the difference in electronegativity between carbon and the other element, the size of the respective atoms, and the bonding characteristics of these atoms. These factors are examined in the following three sections. 

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The second factor controlling carbide formation is the atomic radius of the constituent elements. The radii of elements forming carbides are listed in Table 2.2. A certain caution is in order when considering the radius of an element since the size of an atom is related to a wave function and it follows that no atom has a precise radius. Thus, the values given in Table... 

The silica which is formed during the hydrothermal process of SiC is readily dissolved in water. This is, however, a very different situation for other metal oxides as most of them are insoluble in water thus, for other carbides, both carbon and metal oxide formations occur during hydrothermal reaction [62]. The type of carbide and the carbide-to-water ratio are the two most important controlling factors for the formation of carbon in hydrothermal reaction [63]. 

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