In materials chemistry, a binary phase or binary compound is a

chemical compound A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one element ...

containing two different elements. Some binary phase compounds are molecular, e.g.

carbon tetrachloride Carbon tetrachloride, also known by many other names (such as tetrachloromethane, also recognised by the IUPAC, carbon tet in the cleaning industry, Halon-104 in firefighting, and Refrigerant-10 in HVACR) is an organic compound with the chemi ...

(CCl₄). More typically binary phase refers to extended solids. Famous examples

zinc sulfide Zinc sulfide (or zinc sulphide) is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula of ZnS. This is the main form of zinc found in nature, where it mainly occurs as the mineral sphalerite. Although this mineral is usually black because of various ...

, which contains zinc and sulfur, and

tungsten carbide Tungsten carbide (chemical formula: WC) is a chemical compound (specifically, a carbide) containing equal parts of tungsten and carbon atoms. In its most basic form, tungsten carbide is a fine gray powder, but it can be pressed and formed into ...

, which contains tungsten and carbon. Phases with higher degrees of complexity feature more elements, e.g. three elements in ternary phases, four elements in quaternary phases.

References

Chemical compounds {{chem-stub