Carborundum is a crystalline compound, SiC, consisting of carbon and
silicon in combination; carbon silicide. Edward Goodrich Acheson discovered how to make it by heating carbon and
sand together in an electric
furnace, a process
facilitated by his previous electrical experience. It is harder than
emery, and is used as an
abrasive. Carborundum is in fact the
brand name.
It has been noted that without carborundum, the mass production manufacturing of precision-ground, interchangeable metal parts would be practically impossible. In the mid 1890s, its discoverer and inventor, Edward Goodrich Acheson, discovered that overheating carborundum produced almost pure graphite.
References:
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Website: National Inventors Hall of Fame, "Edward Acheson" (http://www.invent.org/book/book-text/acheson.html)