▪ I. sorbite1 Chem.
(ˈsɔːbaɪt)
[f. sorb n.1 + -ite.]
= sorbitol.
| 1867 Chambers's Encycl. IX. 187/2 Sorbin, or Sorbite.., may be obtained in colourless transparent rhombic octahedra. 1868 Fownes' Chem. (ed. 10) 638 Sorbin, or Sorbite, is a crystallisable sugar existing in the juice of ripe mountain-ash berries. |
Hence sorˈbitic a.1 (See quot.)
| 1868 Watts Dict. Chem. V. 353 Sorbite when heated gives off acid water, and is converted after some time..into a dark-red mass consisting of sorbitic acid. |
▪ II. sorbite2
(ˈsɔːbaɪt)
[f. the name of Dr. H. C. Sorby (1826–1908).]
† 1. A nitride and carbide of titanium found as red microscopic crystals in pig iron. Obs.
| 1888 H. M. Howe in Engin. & Mining Jrnl. 18 Aug. 132 (table), Minerals which compose iron. Name suggested here..Sorbite. Ibid. 1 Sept. 177/1 Sorbite has been detected by Sorby in many cast-irons..as beautiful triangles, rhombs, hexagons and complex crosses. 1919 Mineral. Mag. XVIII. 376 It [sc. cochranite] is formed under the same conditions [as], and sometimes together with, the copper-red cubes of titanium cyano-nitride, Ti(CN)2.3Ti3N2. This was named sorbite.., a term afterwards withdrawn, as the same name was given..for one of the transition conditions in carbon-steel. |
2. A constituent of steel consisting of microscopic granules of cementite in a ferrite matrix, produced esp. when hardened steel is tempered above about 450°C. [a. F. sorbite (F. Osmond 1895, in Bull. de la Soc. d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie Nationale X. 491).]
| 1900 Metallographist III. 196 The crystallites represent the solid solution of first solidification, from which, during cooling, plates of cementite separated first, then the eutectic, pearlyte or sorbite (the latter if the melting of the cementite was sufficiently complete). 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXIX. 572/2 Austenite, troostite, sorbite, and other constituents [of iron] have also been described. 1924 Greaves & Wrighton Pract. Micros. Metallogr. vii. 57 Sorbite is the essential constituent of hardened and tempered steels intended for constructional purposes. 1964 H. Hodges Artifacts xix. 218 The effect of gently heating a quenched steel is that at low temperatures any martensite present forms troostite, while at higher temperatures..sorbite is produced. 1967 A. H. Cottrell Introd. Metallurgy xx. 384 Above about 500°C the cementite particles grow competitively..into larger rounded particles dispersed through the B.C.C. iron matrix, giving a spheroidized structure (sorbite). |
Hence sorˈbitic a.2
| 1902 Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. LXI. 140 Osmond said that probably in future all our steel rails will be made sorbitic. 1904 Electrochem. Industry Feb. 51 (Cent.), Stead and Richards in a paper on sorbitic steel rails give a simple method for the production of sorbite in steel. 1927 Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Engineers CCXXIV. 319 Photographs indicating the difference between sorbitic and ordinary steel. 1975 Metals Abstr. VIII. i. 298/1 The production of reinforcing wire from grade 80 steel rod with a uniform sorbitic structure is described. |