Silicon Carbide

specimen number:
1052875

location:
Man-Made

description:
A cluster of bright lustrous metallic crystals of man-made silicon carbide. In good condition.

Carborundum, or synthetic silicon carbide, is a man-made chemical compound of silicon and carbon that was first synthesized in a laboratory by American inventor Edward Goodrich Acheson in 1891 while he was attempting to dissolve carbon in molten corundum. Geologically absent from Earth in significant quantities, natural silicon carbide exists only as the extremely rare mineral moissanite, which was later discovered in meteorite fragments. Industrially, carborundum is produced by heating a mixture of high-purity silica sand and carbon in massive electric Acheson resistance furnaces at extremely high temperatures. Mineralogically and technologically, it forms hard, hexagonal crystalline structures and synthetic clusters prized for their extreme hardness, thermal stability, and abrasive properties, making them widely used in cutting tools, grinding wheels, and refractory materials.

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