We are investigating the ultra-rapid synthesis of transition metal carbides using microwave (MW) irradiation. Currently we are establishing an understanding of these reactions and the mechanism involved in their rapid synthesis. We have already investigated synthesis from the metal powders + carbon, however now we are developing a technique to synthesise the carbides from the metal oxide powders. To understand and optimise these reactions we require precise structural models (including knowledge of non-stoichiometry, ion mobility) and details of the phases present at key (intermediate) reaction times. We propose to study M-O-C systems from each of group 4, group 5 and group 6 respectively, viz. MoO3-C, Ta2O5-C and TiO2-C. We will investigate materials MW-irradiated for fixed reaction time intervals resulting in a total of 12 samples. We anticipate experiments will require 2 d beamtime.