Molybdenum Carbide-Mo2C

Molybdenum carbide (Mo₂C) can occur in many crystalline forms, the most common of which is α-Mo₂C and β-Mo₂C.

Mo2C Powder

 It is the latter phase which is stable at low temperatures and occurs in steels. β-Mo₂C has a close-packed hexagonal crystal structure with the carbon atoms located in one half of the available octahedral interstices. The lattice parameters assumed for the diagrams below are a=0.3007 nm and c=0.4729 nm.

Projection of four unit cells. The numbers indicate the fractional coordinates along the z-axis. The black atoms are carbon and the blue molybdenum.	Two molybdenum and one carbon atom per unit cell.
	As the projection along the z-axis, but with most of the atoms removed to show carbon in an octahedral interstice.
Carbon in an octahedral interstice.