the sintering temperature and consequently helps in producing fine grained fully densified ZrC. Spark plasma sintering also has been used to produce fully densified ZrC. Zirconium carbide can also be fabricated by solution based processing. This is achieved by refluxing a metal oxide with acetylacetone. Another method of fabrication is chemical vapour deposition. This is achieved by heating a zirconium sponge and parsing halide gas through it. Poor oxidation resistance over 800 °C limits the applications of ZrC. One way to improve the oxidation resistance of ZrC is to make composites. Important composites proposed are ZrC-ZrB2 and ZrC-ZrB2-SiC composite. These composites can work up to 1800 °C. Another method to improve this is to use another material as a barrier layer such as in TRISO fuel particles. References Zirconium(IV) compounds Carbides Superhard materials Refractory materials Rock salt crystal structure