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Uranium carbide, a carbide of
uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
, is a hard refractory
ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
material. It comes in several stoichiometries (''x'' differs in ), such as uranium methanide (UC,
CAS number A CAS Registry Number (also referred to as CAS RN or informally CAS Number) is a unique identification number assigned by the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), US to every chemical substance described in the open scientific literature. It inclu ...
12070-09-6), uranium
sesquicarbide In chemistry, a carbide usually describes a compound composed of carbon and a metal. In metallurgy, carbiding or carburizing is the process for producing carbide coatings on a metal piece. Interstitial / Metallic carbides The carbides of the ...
(U2C3, CAS number 12076-62-9), and uranium
acetylide In organometallic chemistry, acetylide refers to chemical compounds with the chemical formulas and , where M is a metal. The term is used loosely and can refer to substituted acetylides having the general structure (where R is an organic side c ...
(UC2, CAS number 12071-33-9). Like uranium dioxide and some other uranium compounds, uranium carbide can be used as a nuclear fuel for
nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat fr ...
s, usually in the form of pellets or tablets. Uranium carbide fuel was used in late designs of nuclear thermal rockets. Uranium carbide pellets are used as fuel kernels for the US version of
pebble bed reactor The pebble-bed reactor (PBR) is a design for a graphite-moderated, gas-cooled nuclear reactor. It is a type of very-high-temperature reactor (VHTR), one of the six classes of nuclear reactors in the Generation IV initiative. The basic desi ...
s; the German version uses uranium dioxide instead. As nuclear fuel, uranium carbide can be used either on its own, or mixed with plutonium carbide (PuC and Pu2C3). The mixture is also labeled as uranium-plutonium carbide ( (U,Pu)C ). Uranium carbide is also a popular target material for
particle accelerator A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to very high speeds and energies, and to contain them in well-defined beams. Large accelerators are used for fundamental research in particle ...
s.
Ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous wa ...
synthesis from nitrogen and hydrogen is sometimes accomplished in the presence of uranium carbide acting as a catalyst.


See also

* Uranium boride * Thorium carbide


References

Carbides Uranium compounds Nuclear materials Rock salt crystal structure {{Inorganic-compound-stub