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cementite

Iron and carbon compound

EntityQ189335

Also known as Fe3C · iron carbide

Subclass of: chemical compound
, carbide

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Cementite (or iron carbide) is a compound of iron and carbon, more precisely an intermediate transition metal carbide with the formula Fe3C. By weight, it is 6.67% carbon and 93.3% iron. It has an orthorhombic crystal structure. It is a hard, brittle material, normally classified as a ceramic in its pure form, and is a frequently found and important constituent in ferrous metallurgy. While cementite is present in most steels and cast irons, it is produced as a raw material in the iron carbide process, which belongs to the family of alternative ironmaking technologies. The name cementite originated from the theory of Floris Osmond and J. Werth, in which the structure of solidified steel consists of a kind of cellular tissue, with ferrite as the nucleus and Fe3C the envelope of the cells. The carbide therefore cemented the iron.

Overview

All data

40 statements · 20% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Members / parts: carbon
iron
Formula: CFe₃
Canonical SMILES: [C].[Fe].[Fe].[Fe]
1
Sources
1.Stated in PubChem“iron- methane(3:1)”Retrieved 2016-09-21
View statement on Wikidata ↗
Mass: 179.8048 Da
Space group: space group 62
Point group: orthorhombic-bipyramidal
Crystal system: orthorhombic crystal system
Density: 7.69 g/cm³ temperature: 20°C · state of matter: solid
Melting point: 2,110.15 K

On other databases

26 identifiers linking cementite across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

20%

externally sourced

Source last edited November 1, 2026. AIDb refreshes this page daily.

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AIDb. (2026). cementite (Q189335). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/cementite-Q189335