spore: profile
id: titanium-carbide
spore_version: 0.2
family: carbide-nitride-boride-ceramics
name: Titanium carbide
abbreviation: TiC
role: hard refractory carbide for cermet cutting tools, wear coatings and bearing surfaces
category: ceramics
type: carbides
summary: |
  Titanium carbide is a titanium-carbon compound, TiC, with a cubic rock-salt structure (Fm-3m, JMST 2018). NIST-JANAF gives a standard enthalpy of formation of -184.096 kJ/mol at 298.15 K for the crystalline solid. WebQC prints a density of 4.9300 g/cm3 and a melting point of 3160.00 °C, but the JANAF table places the crystal-to-liquid transition at 3290 K, so the two melting figures are kept side by side. A Fraunhofer kinetic study finds that TiC particles in air begin to lose their carbide intensity above 225 °C and convert to rutile TiO2, and that the reaction in oxygen runs in steps from about 482 °C.
best_for: Hard wear coatings and bearing surfaces (NASA records of 1980 and 1988), and cermet cutting tools with a carbide or carbonitride hard phase (Kennametal patent)
weakest_at: Oxidation in air above about 225 °C, and a flammable, dust-explosive powder (NextSDS H228; ICSC 1319). Hardness, thermal conductivity and thermal expansion of monolithic TiC are not sourced in this file
identity:
  formula: 'TiC, titanium carbide: a 1:1 titanium-carbon compound with a cubic rock-salt (NaCl-type) structure (Wikipedia, composition only; JMST 2018 gives Fm-3m)'
  cas: 12070-08-5
  crystal_system: cubic
  space_group: Fm-3m
  source: janaf-tic
  where: NIST-JANAF C-index, row 12070-08-5 CTi, Titanium Carbide (cr); table C-107 title line
tags:
  environments: []
  stresses:
    - extreme-heat
  applications:
    - mechanisms
properties:
  - benchmark: molar_heat_capacity
    label: Molar heat capacity Cp, TiC, 298.15 K
    value: 33.807
    unit: J K-1 mol-1
    scope: material
    conditions:
      temperature: 298.15 K
      reference_state: standard state pressure 0.1 MPa
      phase: crystalline (cr)
    method: JANAF table value at 298.15 K; molar, so not converted to the canonical specific heat (no molar mass conversion applied in this file)
    status: ground
    source: janaf-tic
    where: Titanium Carbide (TiC) table C-107, row 298.15, Cp column
  - benchmark: molar_heat_capacity
    label: Molar heat capacity Cp, TiC, 1000 K
    value: 51.179
    unit: J K-1 mol-1
    scope: material
    conditions:
      temperature: 1000 K
      reference_state: standard state pressure 0.1 MPa
      phase: crystalline (cr)
    method: JANAF table value at 1000 K, read from the same table
    status: ground
    source: janaf-tic
    where: Titanium Carbide (TiC) table C-107, row 1000, Cp column
  - benchmark: standard_molar_entropy
    label: Standard molar entropy S, TiC, 298.15 K
    value: 24.229
    unit: J K-1 mol-1
    scope: material
    conditions:
      temperature: 298.15 K
      reference_state: standard state pressure 0.1 MPa
      phase: crystalline (cr)
    method: JANAF table value at 298.15 K; column mapped from the table layout
    status: ground
    source: janaf-tic
    where: Titanium Carbide (TiC) table C-107, row 298.15, S column
  - benchmark: standard_enthalpy_of_formation
    label: Standard enthalpy of formation, TiC, 298.15 K
    value: -184.096
    unit: kJ mol-1
    scope: material
    conditions:
      temperature: 298.15 K
      reference_state: standard state pressure 0.1 MPa
      phase: crystalline (cr)
    method: JANAF table value at 298.15 K; delta-f H column
    status: ground
    source: janaf-tic
    where: Titanium Carbide (TiC) table C-107, row 298.15, delta-f H column
  - benchmark: standard_gibbs_energy_of_formation
    label: Standard Gibbs energy of formation, TiC, 298.15 K
    value: -180.438
    unit: kJ mol-1
    scope: material
    conditions:
      temperature: 298.15 K
      reference_state: standard state pressure 0.1 MPa
      phase: crystalline (cr)
    method: JANAF table value at 298.15 K; delta-f G column
    status: ground
    source: janaf-tic
    where: Titanium Carbide (TiC) table C-107, row 298.15, delta-f G column
  - benchmark: melting_point
    label: Crystal-to-liquid transition, TiC (JANAF)
    value: 3290
    unit: K
    scope: material
    conditions:
      basis: JANAF crystal-liquid transition row
      reference_state: standard state pressure 0.1 MPa
    method: JANAF lists the crystal-liquid transition as a temperature row in the table; it is not labelled as a melting point. The value is kept in kelvin as printed
    status: ground
    source: janaf-tic
    where: Titanium Carbide (TiC) table C-107, row 3290.000, labelled CRYSTAL <--> LIQUID
  - benchmark: melting_point
    label: Melting point, TiC (WebQC)
    value: 3160
    unit: °C
    scope: material
    conditions:
      basis: as printed by WebQC
    method: WebQC physical-properties value; the site does not name its original source
    status: ground
    source: webqc-tic
    where: Physical properties heading, melting point row
  - benchmark: density
    label: Density, TiC (WebQC)
    value: 4.93
    unit: g/cm3
    scope: material
    conditions:
      basis: as printed by WebQC (4.9300 g/cm3)
    method: WebQC physical-properties value; printed as 4.9300 g/cm³ and written here as g/cm3
    status: ground
    source: webqc-tic
    where: Physical properties heading, density row
  - benchmark: molar_mass
    label: Molar mass, TiC (WebQC)
    value: 59.8777
    unit: g/mol
    scope: material
    conditions:
      basis: molar mass of TiC as printed by WebQC
    method: WebQC property block, Properties of Titanium carbide heading
    status: ground
    source: webqc-tic
    where: Properties of Titanium carbide heading, molar mass row
  - benchmark: elastic_modulus
    label: Elastic modulus, TiC, first-principles, zero pressure
    value: 444
    unit: GPa
    scope: material
    conditions:
      pressure: 0 GPa
      structure: Fm-3m
    method: First-principles calculation as printed in JMST 2018 Table 3. Calculated, not measured
    status: calculated
    source: jmst-2018-tic
    where: Table 3, row P = 0, E (GPa) column, TiC (Fm-3m)
  - benchmark: bulk_modulus
    label: Bulk modulus, TiC, first-principles, zero pressure
    value: 268
    unit: GPa
    scope: material
    conditions:
      pressure: 0 GPa
      structure: Fm-3m
    method: First-principles calculation as printed in JMST 2018 Table 3. Calculated, not measured
    status: calculated
    source: jmst-2018-tic
    where: Table 3, row P = 0, B (GPa) column
  - benchmark: shear_modulus
    label: Shear modulus, TiC, first-principles, zero pressure
    value: 181
    unit: GPa
    scope: material
    conditions:
      pressure: 0 GPa
      structure: Fm-3m
    method: First-principles calculation as printed in JMST 2018 Table 3. Calculated, not measured
    status: calculated
    source: jmst-2018-tic
    where: Table 3, row P = 0, G (GPa) column
corrosion:
  - environment: Air, in-situ XRD on the smaller TiC particles, room temperature to 1000 °C
    headline: In air, TiC starts to lose intensity above 225 °C and converts to anatase, then rutile TiO2
    effect: The TiC XRD intensity decreases above 225 °C. Anatase forms above 350 °C, rutile is detected at 580 °C, and rutile exceeds anatase at 800 °C. No brookite or other intermediate was detected. The initial rise up to 225 °C is attributed to preferred orientation. The rating moderate is the assistant's judgement from these onset temperatures; the paper gives no rating.
    rating: moderate
    conditions:
      atmosphere: air
      sample: TiC4, the smaller particle size
      temperature: room temperature to 1000 °C, 25 K steps
    source: fraunhofer-tic-oxidation
    where: In-situ XRD measurements, text and Figures 6 and 7
  - environment: Oxygen, thermogravimetry with DSC steps at 5, 10 and 20 K/min up to 1500 °C
    headline: In oxygen, TiC oxidation runs in steps, the first at about 482 to 492 °C
    effect: At 5 K/min the DSC reaction steps are at 482, 708 and 837 °C for TiC4, and at 492, 740, 916 and 1036 °C for TiC150. For the small particles the mass increase shifts to higher temperature as the heating rate rises. The theoretical maximum mass increase on complete oxidation is 33.4 mass percent. The rating moderate is the assistant's judgement; the paper gives no rating.
    rating: moderate
    conditions:
      atmosphere: oxygen
      heating_rates: 5, 10 and 20 K/min
      temperature: up to 1500 °C
    source: fraunhofer-tic-oxidation
    where: TG Measurement section, Table 3 (first derivative at 5 K/min), Figures 8 and 9
  - environment: Air, isothermal exposure at 600 to 1150 °C for up to 1140 hours
    headline: Isothermal oxidation converts TiC fully to rutile, with a first-order kinetic fit
    effect: XRD shows oxidation of TiC to rutile in every isothermal sample, with no by-products or intermediates detected. A first-order fit gives an activation energy of 117.3 kJ/mol and log A of 4.3 (1/s). Each is printed with a decimal comma in the source. The paper gives no rate in mass or thickness units, so the rating is unknown.
    rating: unknown
    conditions:
      atmosphere: air
      temperature: 600 to 1150 °C
      time: up to 1140 hours
    source: fraunhofer-tic-oxidation
    where: Isothermal oxidation experiments and kinetic evaluation text, Figure 4 and Figure 5
risks:
  hazards:
    - text: 'NextSDS safety data sheet for titanium carbide, Section 02: Flam. Sol. Cat. 2, H228 Flammable solid, pictogram GHS02, with the signal word Warning as printed on the page. Section 09 of the same page calls the powder highly flammable.'
      ghs:
        - H228
      source: nextsds-tic
      where: Section 02 Hazard identification; Section 09 Flammability
    - text: 'ICSC 1319 (1998): finely dispersed particles form explosive mixtures in air, and dust explosion is possible if the material is a powder or granule mixed with air. It decomposes on contact with sparks, which creates a fire and explosion hazard.'
      ghs: []
      source: icsc-1319
      where: Fire hazards and Explosion hazards sections
  failure_risks:
    - mode: Dust cloud ignition
      trigger: Powder dispersed in air near an ignition source or spark
      consequence: ICSC 1319 says finely dispersed particles form explosive mixtures in air. The card prints no exposure limit.
      severity: high
      source: icsc-1319
      where: Explosion hazards section
    - mode: Conversion of the carbide to TiO2 at high temperature
      trigger: Heating in air above about 225 °C, or in oxygen above about 482 °C at 5 K/min
      consequence: Loss of the TiC phase and formation of rutile TiO2; the full oxidation adds up to 33.4 mass percent to the sample
      severity: moderate
      source: fraunhofer-tic-oxidation
      where: In-situ XRD and TG Measurement sections
  side_effects: []
  handling:
    - text: 'ICSC 1319: prevent dispersion of dust. A harmful concentration of airborne particles can be reached quickly when the powder is dispersed, and repeated or prolonged inhalation of dust may affect the lungs.'
      source: icsc-1319
      where: Inhalation and dust section; prevention
    - text: 'NextSDS Section 02 precautionary statement P241: use explosion-proof electrical, ventilating and lighting equipment.'
      source: nextsds-tic
      where: Section 02 Precautionary statements
  mitigations: []
uses:
  - application: mechanisms
    device: Titanium carbide coated steel balls in aerospace ball bearings
    example: The 1988 abstract says TiC-coated steel balls can bring large gains in performance and life, in both oil-grease lubricated and oil-grease free bearings in severe applications. The abstract gives no test numbers.
    source: ntrs-19880012102
    where: Abstract
  - application: mechanisms
    device: Sputtered TiC coating on refractory substrates that form stable nitrides
    example: A 1980 NASA Lewis record describes sputtering from a titanium carbide target, with a short nitrogen step at the start of deposition to bond the coating, which improves adhesion, friction and wear.
    source: ntrs-19810007693
    where: Abstract
  - application: mechanisms
    device: Cermet cutting tool with a carbonitride hard phase and nickel and cobalt binder (TiC is named in the starting powder list)
    example: A 1990 Kennametal patent describes cermet cutting tools for turning AISI 1045 and 4340 steels. The claimed hard phase is a titanium carbonitride, so this is not a pure TiC grade. The application is tagged mechanisms because the application list has no machining category.
    source: us-4942097
    where: Abstract, claim 1 and Description (starting powders, steel turning tests)
supply:
  - subject: Titanium (feedstock for the titanium half of TiC)
    abundance: '5650 ppm in the Earth''s crust (USGS PP 1802-A Table A1, citing Jefferson Science Associates 2014). USGS 2026: no U.S. sponge production in 2025; imports were an estimated 44000 t in 2025e.'
    producers:
      - country: China
        share_percent: 70.3
        year: 2025
      - country: Japan
        share_percent: 14.3
        year: 2025
      - country: Russia
        share_percent: 6.8
        year: 2025
      - country: Kazakhstan
        share_percent: 4.3
        year: 2025
      - country: Saudi Arabia
        share_percent: 3.2
        year: 2025
    critical_lists:
      - list: USGS 2025 List of Critical Minerals (titanium listed for white pigment and metal alloys, including aircraft, spacecraft and armor)
        listed: true
      - list: EU critical raw materials list (European Commission page, entry Titanium metal)
        listed: true
    recycling: 'USGS 2026: consumption data for titanium scrap metal for the titanium metal industry were withheld, because survey responses were limited.'
    substitutes:
      - 'USGS 2026: few materials match titanium metal''s strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance. Aluminum, nickel, specialty steels and zirconium alloys may replace titanium where corrosion resistance is needed. This is about titanium metal, not TiC.'
    source: usgs-mcs2026-titanium
    where: 'Titanium and Titanium Dioxide chapter: World Sponge Metal Production table (2025, world total 370000 t, shares calculated by Space Mushroom against it); Recycling; Substitutes. Abundance: USGS PP 1802-A Table A1. Lists: USGS 2025 critical minerals page and the European Commission page (see sources)'
media: []
documents:
  - title: NIST-JANAF Thermochemical Tables, Titanium Carbide (TiC), table C-107 (cr), with C-108 and C-109 phase tables
    type: database
    url: https://janaf.nist.gov/tables/C-107.html
  - title: WebQC compound record, TiC (physical properties, identifiers, molar mass)
    type: database
    url: https://www.webqc.org/compound-TiC-TiC.html
  - title: Kuchenreuther-Hummel, Oxidation kinetic studies of TiC-particles using X-ray diffraction, Fraunhofer ICT
    type: report
    url: https://publica-rest.fraunhofer.de/server/api/core/bitstreams/62c76016-cb07-4c96-8888-7cc4e0a9818f/content
  - title: A first-principles investigation on mechanical and metallic properties of titanium carbides under pressure, J. Mater. Sci. Technol. 34(10), 1953-1958 (2018)
    type: paper
    url: https://www.jmst.org/EN/Y2018/V34/I10/1953
    year: 2018
  - title: Boving, Haenni and Hintermann, Titanium carbide coatings for aerospace ball bearings (NASA NTRS 19880012102, 1988)
    type: report
    url: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19880012102
    year: 1988
  - title: Brainard, Improved refractory coatings (NASA NTRS 19810007693, 1980)
    type: report
    url: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19810007693
    year: 1980
  - title: NextSDS safety data sheet, titanium carbide (Section 02 and Section 09)
    type: sds
    url: https://nextsds.com/sds/en/281331501258291/titanium-carbide
  - title: ICSC 1319, Titanium carbide (ILO and WHO, dated 1998)
    type: database
    url: https://www.inchem.org/documents/icsc/icsc/eics1319.htm
    year: 1998
  - title: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, Titanium and Titanium Dioxide
    type: report
    url: https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2026/mcs2026-titanium.pdf
    year: 2026
  - title: USGS Professional Paper 1802-A, Table A1 crustal abundances
    type: report
    url: https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/a/pp1802a.pdf
    year: 2017
gaps:
  - 'Hardness of monolithic TiC: no measured value read. JMST 2018 gives a calculated Vickers-type column (HV 23.6 at zero pressure), but its unit is not printed, so it is not used. Wikipedia''s Mohs 9 to 9.5 is not used, because the brief limits Wikipedia to composition and history.'
  - 'Thermal conductivity and coefficient of thermal expansion of monolithic TiC: no fetched source with a printed value. A Hitachi materials table was blocked (HTTP 403), and the search snippets did not give clean TiC values.'
  - 'Electrical resistivity: only a search snippet (about 180 microohm cm) was seen; no fetched page, so it is not used.'
  - 'Oxidation onset of TiC powder at 410 degrees C (Kudin 2014, SAMS conference) could not be read: the host did not resolve. Not used.'
  - 'Tang et al. 2025 (Nanoscale Advances) TiC and TiCN oxidation in air: the page returned HTTP 403. Not read.'
  - 'PubChem: CID 4226345 is the record titled methideylidynetitanium(IV) (formula CTi, computed properties only, no GHS or experimental data). It is not the bulk material and is not cited. No PubChem bulk-TiC record was located.'
  - 'GHS classification: only the NextSDS page was read. American Elements (HTTP check blocked) and ChemScene were seen only in search snippets, which disagree on the signal word (Warning against Danger, with GHS02). Both are not used; the NextSDS page is the only classification in this file.'
  - 'Production route of TiC (carbothermal or direct carburization): no fetched source. The carbon feedstock is therefore not recorded in the recipe.'
  - Atomic weights of titanium and carbon were not read in a fetched page, so the recipe parts carry no atomic_weight.
  - 'Designations (UNS, EN, DIN, JIS, ASTM and similar): no fetched source printed a designation for this grade. None are listed.'
  - 'Cutting tools: only a carbonitride cermet patent (Kennametal 1990) was read. No open pure-TiC cermet source with mechanical values was found, so no cermet property is given.'
  - 'Heat shields and spacecraft re-entry use: stated in Wikipedia only, which the brief does not allow for uses. Not listed as a use.'
  - 'Recycling of TiC itself: not stated in any source read. The supply recycling entry refers to titanium scrap.'
  - 'Ageing under radiation or long-term vacuum, and any flight result: no source read in this run.'
  - 'Property names not in property-canon.yaml: molar_heat_capacity, standard_molar_entropy, standard_enthalpy_of_formation, standard_gibbs_energy_of_formation, and molar_mass. The JANAF values are molar and cannot be converted to specific_heat without a molar mass.'
  - 'The melting point differs between sources: JANAF gives a crystal-liquid transition at 3290 K, and WebQC gives 3160.00 degrees C (3433 K). Both are kept; no single melting point is chosen.'
  - 'Source decimal commas: the Fraunhofer paper prints its activation energy and log A with a decimal comma. They are written here with a point. Its lattice parameter is not recorded, because the value check cannot match a decimal comma.'
  - 'Environments: no source read supports a space environment tag, so tags.environments is empty.'
sources:
  janaf-tic:
    title: NIST-JANAF Thermochemical Tables, Titanium Carbide (TiC), table C-107 (cr), C-108 (l) and C-109 (cr,l)
    url: https://janaf.nist.gov/tables/C-107.html
    kind: database
    license: NIST public data
  webqc-tic:
    title: 'WebQC, Titanium carbide (TiC) compound record: physical properties, identifiers and molar mass'
    url: https://www.webqc.org/compound-TiC-TiC.html
    kind: database
    license: web reference site, cited not reproduced
  jmst-2018-tic:
    title: A first-principles investigation on mechanical and metallic properties of titanium carbides under pressure, J. Mater. Sci. Technol. 34(10), 1953-1958 (2018)
    url: https://www.jmst.org/EN/Y2018/V34/I10/1953
    kind: paper
    license: journal article, cited not reproduced
  fraunhofer-tic-oxidation:
    title: Kuchenreuther-Hummel, Oxidation kinetic studies of TiC-particles using X-ray diffraction, Fraunhofer ICT
    url: https://publica-rest.fraunhofer.de/server/api/core/bitstreams/62c76016-cb07-4c96-8888-7cc4e0a9818f/content
    kind: report
    license: institutional repository, cited not reproduced
  ntrs-19880012102:
    title: Boving, Haenni and Hintermann, Titanium carbide coatings for aerospace ball bearings (22nd Aerospace Mechanisms Symposium, 1988), NASA NTRS 19880012102
    url: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19880012102
    kind: report
    license: NASA public document
  ntrs-19810007693:
    title: Brainard, Improved refractory coatings, NASA Lewis (1980), NASA NTRS 19810007693
    url: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19810007693
    kind: report
    license: NASA public document
  us-4942097:
    title: Kennametal, Cermet cutting tool, US patent 4942097 (1990)
    url: https://patents.google.com/patent/US4942097A/en
    kind: web
    license: patent document, cited not reproduced
  nextsds-tic:
    title: NextSDS, Safety data sheet page for titanium carbide (Section 02 and Section 09)
    url: https://nextsds.com/sds/en/281331501258291/titanium-carbide
    kind: datasheet
    license: supplier safety data sheet, cited not reproduced
  icsc-1319:
    title: ICSC 1319, Titanium carbide (International Chemical Safety Cards, ILO and WHO, dated 1998)
    url: https://www.inchem.org/documents/icsc/icsc/eics1319.htm
    kind: database
    license: ILO and WHO public card
  usgs-mcs2026-titanium:
    title: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, Titanium and Titanium Dioxide
    url: https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2026/mcs2026-titanium.pdf
    kind: report
    license: public domain (USGS)
  usgs-pp1802a:
    title: USGS Professional Paper 1802-A, Critical Mineral Resources of the United States, Table A1 (crustal abundances)
    url: https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/a/pp1802a.pdf
    kind: report
    license: public domain (USGS)
  usgs-crit2025:
    title: USGS, About the 2025 List of Critical Minerals (final list of 60 minerals)
    url: https://www.usgs.gov/programs/mineral-resources-program/science/about-2025-list-critical-minerals
    kind: web
    license: public domain (USGS)
  ec-crm:
    title: European Commission, Critical raw materials (list entry Titanium metal, Critical Raw Materials Act)
    url: https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/sectors/raw-materials/areas-specific-interest/critical-raw-materials_en
    kind: web
    license: European Commission web page
  wikipedia-tic:
    title: Wikipedia, Titanium carbide (composition and structure name only)
    url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanium_carbide
    kind: web
    license: CC-BY-SA 4.0
license: CC-BY-4.0
updated: '2026-10-26'
review:
  status: draft
  method: assistant
  checked_values: 12
  unreachable: 4
  caveats: 6
  note: 'Written in this run from pages read in this run: the NIST-JANAF C-107 table and C-index, the WebQC compound page, the JMST 2018 Table 3, the Fraunhofer oxidation paper, the NTRS 1988 and 1980 records, the NextSDS page, the ICSC 1319 card, the USGS titanium chapter 2026 and PP 1802-A, the USGS 2025 critical minerals page, the EC critical raw materials page, the Kennametal patent US4942097 and Wikipedia for composition only. Unreachable: American Elements datasheet (bot check), Hitachi materials table (HTTP 403), Tang et al. 2025 (HTTP 403), Kudin 2014 (host did not resolve).'
story:
  recipe:
    line: TiC is a titanium-carbon compound with one titanium and one carbon per formula unit (JANAF; Wikipedia for the composition name). It has a cubic rock-salt structure, Fm-3m (JMST 2018). Synthesis route not sourced in this file.
    parts:
      - name: Titanium
        symbol: Ti
        role: Metal sublattice of the rock-salt structure (JMST 2018 gives Fm-3m for TiC).
      - name: Carbon
        symbol: C
        role: Interstitial sublattice of the rock-salt structure, with the titanium-carbon bonding that gives the carbide its hardness and heat resistance.
  risk_groups:
    - title: For people
      level: 0
      verdict: Flammable powder, dust-explosion risk (NextSDS, ICSC)
      lead: The powder is flammable as a solid, and a dispersed dust cloud can explode. Treat dust as the main hazard until a manufacturer's safety data sheet is read.
      points:
        - label: Dust
          line: ICSC 1319 says finely dispersed particles form explosive mixtures in air, and that repeated or prolonged inhalation of dust may affect the lungs. Prevent dispersion of dust.
        - label: Flammability
          line: NextSDS gives H228, flammable solid, with GHS02. Keep the powder away from sparks, and use explosion-proof electrical and ventilating equipment (P241).
    - title: If a part or powder heats up
      lead: These numbers come from the Fraunhofer oxidation study of TiC particles in air and oxygen.
      points:
        - label: In air
          line: TiC intensity starts to fall above 225 °C. Anatase forms above 350 °C and rutile at 580 °C.
        - label: In oxygen
          line: At 5 K/min the first reaction step is at 482 °C for the smaller particles and 492 °C for the larger ones.
  why: Titanium carbide is a hard, high-melting carbide used where wear resistance and heat resistance matter more than toughness. The NASA 1988 record links TiC-coated steel balls to better bearing life in oil-lubricated and oil-free bearings, and the 1980 NASA record describes TiC sputtered coatings that bond well to refractory substrates. The JANAF table gives a standard enthalpy of formation of -184.096 kJ/mol for the crystalline solid, and a WebQC density of 4.9300 g/cm3.
  uses:
    - where: Bearing surfaces
      line: A 1988 NASA record says TiC-coated steel balls can bring large gains in performance and life in both oil-grease lubricated and oil-grease free bearings. The abstract gives no test numbers.
    - where: Wear and adhesion coatings
      line: A 1980 NASA Lewis record describes sputtering TiC onto refractory substrates, with a short nitrogen step to bond the coating. The record describes better adhesion, friction and wear.
    - where: Cermet cutting tools
      line: A 1990 Kennametal patent describes cermet cutting tools for turning AISI 1045 and 4340 steels. The claimed hard phase is titanium carbonitride, so this is a relative of TiC rather than pure TiC.
  can_do:
    - label: Stiffness
      benchmark: elastic_modulus
      line: The first-principles elastic modulus is 444 GPa at zero pressure (JMST 2018). It is calculated, not measured, and is the only stiffness value in this file.
    - label: Heat capacity
      benchmark: molar_heat_capacity
      line: The crystalline solid has a molar heat capacity of 33.807 J K-1 mol-1 at 298.15 K and 51.179 J K-1 mol-1 at 1000 K (JANAF).
    - label: Melting
      benchmark: melting_point
      line: JANAF gives a crystal-to-liquid transition at 3290 K. WebQC gives a melting point of 3160.00 °C. The two sources disagree, so both are shown.
  compare: The JANAF transition (3290 K) and the WebQC melting point (3160.00 °C) are different values, and both are kept. The calculated elastic modulus (444 GPa), bulk modulus (268 GPa) and shear modulus (181 GPa) are first-principles values for an ideal crystal. They do not replace measured stiffness data. The compare rows are the three values available from sources read in this run.
  compare_rows:
    - label: Density
      benchmark: density
    - label: Melting point
      benchmark: melting_point
    - label: Elastic modulus
      benchmark: elastic_modulus
  handling:
    - 'Dust: keep powder from dispersing. ICSC 1319 says finely dispersed particles form explosive mixtures in air.'
    - 'Ignition: H228 flammable solid. Keep away from sparks and use explosion-proof equipment (P241, NextSDS).'
    - 'Heat: in air, TiC oxidises to rutile above about 225 °C. Plan for oxide formation in hot service.'
  good_for:
    - Wear and bearing surfaces. The 1988 NASA record reports large gains in bearing life with TiC-coated steel balls.
    - High-melting carbide. JANAF places the crystal-to-liquid transition at 3290 K.
  watch_out:
    - Oxidation in air above about 225 °C, with rutile TiO2 forming and the carbide lost.
    - A flammable powder that can form explosive dust clouds (NextSDS H228; ICSC 1319).
    - Melting point and hardness are not settled here. The melting values differ by source, and hardness, thermal conductivity and thermal expansion were not sourced.
  verdict: Titanium carbide is a high-melting, stiff carbide with JANAF thermochemistry and calculated elastic constants. Its bearing and coating uses have NASA support, and its air oxidation onset is measured. Its powder hazard is a dust-explosion risk. Hardness, thermal conductivity and thermal expansion of monolithic TiC are not yet sourced.