Carbide
Carbide turns up in 2 fields: heat treating, thermal spray. Here is what it means to the people in each one.
Carbide in heat treating
Any hard compound of carbon with iron or alloying elements such as chromium, vanadium, molybdenum or tungsten.
Hard compound such as iron carbide (Fe3C) or the alloy carbides of chromium, vanadium, molybdenum and tungsten. In tool steels, undissolved primary carbides supply wear resistance, while the carbon and alloy dissolved at austenitizing supply hardness and secondary hardening on tempering. Carbide size, shape and spacing are set by prior annealing and austenitizing temperature, and coarse networks cut toughness.
"D2 is loaded with chrome carbide, don't go hotter chasing hardness, you'll just dissolve it and keep retained austenite."
Carbide in thermal spray
Shop shorthand for a carbide coating, usually tungsten carbide, as in putting carbide on a part.
Clipped name sprayers and customers use for carbide-based coatings, most often tungsten carbide cobalt or tungsten carbide cobalt chrome, and sometimes chromium carbide. To carbide a part means to HVOF it with one of these and finish grind it. Because the coating is so hard, carbide jobs come with diamond grinding, careful edge design and extra grind stock in the quote.
"Customer wants carbide on all four plungers, quote it with diamond grind and a 0.010 undercut."