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An alloy is distinct from an impure metal in that, with an alloy, the added elements are well controlled to produce desirable properties, while impure metals such as wrought iron are less controlled, but are often considered useful. Alloys are made by mixing two or more elements, at least one of which is a metal.
Alloy steel is steel that is alloyed with a variety of elements in amounts between 1.0% and 50% by weight, typically to improve its mechanical properties. Types [ edit ]
As with almost all aluminium alloys, a distinction is made between wrought alloys for rolling and forging and cast alloys for casting. The copper content is usually between 3 and 6%. Between 0.3% and 6% the alloys are regarded as not weldable or very difficult to weld (by fusion welding), with higher copper contents they become weldable again.
The chemical elements can be broadly divided into metals, metalloids, and nonmetals according to their shared physical and chemical properties.All elemental metals have a shiny appearance (at least when freshly polished); are good conductors of heat and electricity; form alloys with other metallic elements; and have at least one basic oxide.
The mechanical properties of most other alloys depend on the presence of grain boundaries, but at high temperatures, they participate in creep and require other mechanisms. In many such alloys, islands of an ordered intermetallic phase sit in a matrix of disordered phase, all with the same crystal lattice .
In contrast, certain metal alloys exhibit unique properties where their size and density remain unchanged across a range of temperatures. [32] Cast iron is defined as an iron–carbon alloy with more than 2.00%, but less than 6.67% carbon. Stainless steel is defined as a regular steel alloy with greater than 10% by weight alloying content of ...
Cast iron's properties are changed by adding various alloying elements, or alloyants. Next to carbon, silicon is the most important alloyant because it forces carbon out of solution. A low percentage of silicon allows carbon to remain in solution, forming iron carbide and producing white cast iron.
Nitinol properties are particular to the precise composition of the alloy and its processing. These specifications are typical for commercially available shape memory nitinol alloys Nickel titanium , also known as nitinol , is a metal alloy of nickel and titanium , where the two elements are present in roughly equal atomic percentages.