Image
Cover of the Carborundum Company's prospectus for its new industrial abrasive, 1894.
Credit: Courtesy the Carborundum Company.
Carborundum (silicon carbide) is an extremely hard, synthetically manufactured, crystalline compound of silicon and carbon. When Edward Acheson began production in the 1890s, it quickly became an indispensable component of cutting tools and grinding wheels. Today, its applications can be found everywhere from rocket engines to light-emitting diodes.