Friday 9 October 2009

Metals

Types Of Metals:

  • Ferrous-Metals containing Carbon and Iron
  • Non-Ferrous-Metals not containing Iron
  • Alloys-Mixture of two or more metals
  • Non Alloys-One metal

Ferrous Alloys-A mix of two or more metals. At least one of which contains Iron or Carbon.

Non-Ferrous Alloys-Mixture of two or more metals not containing Iron.

Ferrous:

Mild Steel-Quite strong/Cheap but rusts easily and can't be hardened or tempered.

High Carbon Steel-Harder than Mild Steel. Can be hardened and tempered.

Non-Ferrous:

Aluminium-Light weight/corrosion resistant. Expensive, Not nearly as strong as Steel.

Brass-Quite strong/corrosion resistant, Malleable, Ductile/Looks good

Copper-Relatively soft, Malleable, Ductile, Good conductor of electricity.

25% of the Earths crust is Metal Ore

  • Aluminium is most common, followed by iron
  • In general, the more rare it is the more expensive it is
  • Iron(Ferrite) is converted from its ore by heating. The resulting impurities(Slag) are removed from the furnace leaving a soft, grayish metal once it has cooled. It is rarely used without combining it with Carbon thus giving it a greater strength(Steel)
  • Non-Ferrous Metals-This group of metals contains-Aluminium, Copper, Tin, Lead, Zinc as precious metals such as Silver, Gold and Platinum.

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