Metals and Alloys: Properties, Uses, and Applications
Depending on their origin, we distinguish natural materials like silk or quartz, synthetic, such as concrete or glass, and auxiliaries, such as polishes, lubricants, insecticides, and others.
Ferrous Metals
Ferrous materials are those whose main component is iron, associated with other substances, both metallic and non-metallic.
Iron Minerals
- Magnetite: Dark, almost black, and an excellent iron ore, with 60-70% iron.
- Red Hematite: Compact masses of red, containing 40-60% iron.
- Siderite: Yellowing, some fragments have a glass-like brightness, with 30-40% iron.
- Limonite: Compact mass of brown or blackish color, with poor performance due to low metal content.
- Pyrite: A mixture of iron sulfides, golden yellow, rarely used as an iron ore.
Steel Products
- Iron Sweet: Silvery material, high magnetic permeability, ductile, malleable, very porous, and easily oxidized.
- Foundries: Cast Iron: High silicon content and a very slow cooling rate; used in manufacturing media, checks, and banking.
- Molding White: High manganese content and a higher cooling rate; used in the automotive industry.
Steel
Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, where the carbon content ranges between 0.1 and 1.76%, and may contain other metallic or non-metallic elements.
- Low Alloy Steel: When the percentages of these elements do not exceed 1%.
- Medium Alloy Steel: Contains any component other than carbon, where the percentage is between 1 and 5%.
- High Alloy Steel: Contains elements apart from carbon, whose elements share 5% or more.
Steel Business
- Construction Steels: (Carbon steels, alloy steels for quenching and tempering, steels for bearings, spring steels, case-hardened steels, nitriding steels)
- Special Steels: (Easy to mechanize, have magnetic properties and controlled expansion)
- Anti-Corrosion Stainless Steels: (Containing high proportions of chromium and nickel, very resistant to corrosive agents)
- Tool Steel: (Small amounts of chromium, nickel, vanadium, tungsten, have high resistance and good toughness against wear.)
Non-Ferrous Metals
- Copper: Reddish, soft, good electrical conductor, malleable, ductile; used in electrical cables, receptacles, bowls, line pipes, aluminum bronze alloys, brasses, bronzes.
- Aluminum: Silver, very soft, low density, good electrical conductor, very ductile and malleable; used in electrical wires, kitchen utensils, light structures, alloys: duralumin, alnico, light alloys.
- Lead: Silver gray, very bland, heavy, flexible, and malleable; used in batteries, radiation protection, alloys: brazing.
- Tin: Bright white, very soft, slightly ductile, very malleable; used in tin foil, alloys: white metal, brazing, bronze.
- Zinc: Gray-blue, bright, cold, and relatively fragile; used in electro-galvanized and hot-galvanized alloys: bronze, brass, nickel silver.
- Nickel: Bright white, moderately hard, tough, ductile, and malleable; used in other metals, alloys: stainless steel.
- Chrome: Shiny white, very hard, brittle, crystalline structure; used in chrome plating of other metals, alloys: chromium and stainless steels.
- Tungsten: Steel gray, very hard and heavy, good conductivity; used in filament lamps.
- Mercury: Liquid silver and shiny, very dense, good driver; used in thermometers, lamps, button batteries, alloys: amalgam.
- Titanium: Silvery white, shiny, hard, and resistant; used in aerospace, teeth rows.
- Magnesium: Bright white, very light, soft, malleable, and ductile. Used in pyrotechnics, metallurgy metals.
Safety and Environmental Impact
Intense scrutiny of mineral extraction techniques is necessary. Control of mineral processing methods should take into account the safety of workers.