Manufacturing Materials
There is a wide variety of materials available for production manufacturing that fall into three general categories: metal, plastic, and inorganic materials.
Metals are classified as ferrous, nonferrous, and alloys.
1. Ferrous metals contain iron, and steel.
2. Nonferrous metals do not have iron content, such as copper and aluminum for examples.
3. Alloys are a mixture of two or more metals.
Inorganic materials include carbon, ceramics, and composites.
1. Carbon and graphite or classified together and have low tensile strength (ability to be stretched).
2. Ceramics are clay and glass materials. These materials are resistant to heat, chemicals, and corrosion.
D. Plastics
The characteristics of ferrous metals
Ferrous metals include mild steel, carbon steel, stainless steel, cast iron, and wrought iron. These metals are primarily used for their tensile strength and durability, especially mild steel which helps hold up the tallest skyscrapers and the longest bridges in the world. You can also find ferrous metals in housing construction, industrial containers, large-scale piping, automobiles, rails for railroad and transportation, most of tools and hardware you use around the house, and the knives you cook with at home.
Due to the high amounts of carbon used when creating them, most ferrous metals and alloys are vulnerable to rust when exposed to the elements. While this isn’t true of wrought iron, which is so iron pure that it resists oxidization, or stainless steel, which is protected thanks to its high chromium content, it’s a good rule of thumb that if you see rust, it’s a ferrous metal.
Most ferrous metals also have magnetic properties, which makes them very useful in the creation of large motors and electrical appliances. The reason you can tack your child’s artwork to the refrigerator with that magnet with the local pizza place’s phone number on it? Ferrous metal.
Most importantly, ferrous metals make up the most recycled materials in the world. In 2008 alone, 1.3 billion tons of steel were produced, and 500 million tons of that was made from scrap materials. But we’ll get to why that’s important a little later.
The characteristics of non-ferrous metals
Non-ferrous metals include aluminum, brass, copper, nickel, tin, lead, and zinc, as well as precious metals like gold and silver. While non-ferrous metals can provide strength, they are primarily used where their differences from ferrous metals can provide an advantage.
For instance, non-ferrous metals are much more malleable than ferrous metals. Non-ferrous metals are also much lighter, making them well-suited for use where strength is needed, but weight is a factor, such as in the aircraft or canning industries. Because they contain no iron, non-ferrous metals have a higher resistance to rust and corrosion, which is why you’ll find these materials in use for gutters, water pipes, roofing, and road signs. Finally, they are also non-magnetic, which makes them perfect for use in small electronics and as electrical wiring.
As far as recycling goes, aluminum is the third most recycled material in the world. However, many other non-ferrous materials like copper, brass and lead are relatively scarce, and metallurgists rely heavily on scrap material recycling to make new ones.
The characteristics of ferrous metals
Ferrous metals include mild steel, carbon steel, stainless steel, cast iron, and wrought iron. These metals are primarily used for their tensile strength and durability, especially mild steel which helps hold up the tallest skyscrapers and the longest bridges in the world. You can also find ferrous metals in housing construction, industrial containers, large-scale piping, automobiles, rails for railroad and transportation, most of tools and hardware you use around the house, and the knives you cook with at home.
Due to the high amounts of carbon used when creating them, most ferrous metals and alloys are vulnerable to rust when exposed to the elements. While this isn’t true of wrought iron, which is so iron pure that it resists oxidization, or stainless steel, which is protected thanks to its high chromium content, it’s a good rule of thumb that if you see rust, it’s a ferrous metal.
Most ferrous metals also have magnetic properties, which makes them very useful in the creation of large motors and electrical appliances. The reason you can tack your child’s artwork to the refrigerator with that magnet with the local pizza place’s phone number on it? Ferrous metal.
Most importantly, ferrous metals make up the most recycled materials in the world. In 2008 alone, 1.3 billion tons of steel were produced, and 500 million tons of that was made from scrap materials. But we’ll get to why that’s important a little later.
The characteristics of non-ferrous metals
Non-ferrous metals include aluminum, brass, copper, nickel, tin, lead, and zinc, as well as precious metals like gold and silver. While non-ferrous metals can provide strength, they are primarily used where their differences from ferrous metals can provide an advantage.
For instance, non-ferrous metals are much more malleable than ferrous metals. Non-ferrous metals are also much lighter, making them well-suited for use where strength is needed, but weight is a factor, such as in the aircraft or canning industries. Because they contain no iron, non-ferrous metals have a higher resistance to rust and corrosion, which is why you’ll find these materials in use for gutters, water pipes, roofing, and road signs. Finally, they are also non-magnetic, which makes them perfect for use in small electronics and as electrical wiring.
As far as recycling goes, aluminum is the third most recycled material in the world. However, many other non-ferrous materials like copper, brass and lead are relatively scarce, and metallurgists rely heavily on scrap material recycling to make new ones.
Alloys
Alloys are metallic materials consisting of two or more elements combined in such a way that they cannot be readily separated by physical means. More than 90% of metals used are in the form of alloys. They represent an enormous family of engineering materials that provide a wide range of products with useful properties.
Each alloy is distinct from its components, and the properties of each alloy are distinct. Indeed, the purpose in forming an alloy is to provide a metallic substance with physical, mechanical and/or chemical properties and characteristics that are different from those of its components. Moreover, these properties are influenced by the manner in which the alloy is formed and treated. The physical and chemical properties of an alloy can be modified by heat treatment and mechanical working. In most cases, the alloy is chemically more stable than the component elements, so that alloys are designed for specific resistance to actions such as corrosion, wear, fatigue and temperature. Other alloys are made to impart magnetic or electrical properties, strength, formability, etc.
Examples of the properties of alloys:
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steel is an alloy of iron with carbon and, usually, small amounts of a number of other elements, each of which imparts some unique characteristic to steel;
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stainless steel alloys are a combination of iron, chromium and nickel frequently modified by the presence of other elements. This family of alloys is particularly resistant to corrosion, in contrast to the rusting phenomenon that consumes ordinary steel;
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beryllium-copper alloys are stronger and have higher electrical conductivity that other copper alloys;
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gallium arsenide is a superconducting alloy used in laser-beam technology;
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superalloys of nickel and cobalt are used in aircraft engines due to their corrosion- and heat-resistance;
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aluminum with small amounts of silicon, iron, copper, manganese, magnesium and zinc provides an alloy specifically designed for the manufacture of beverage cans;
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pewter is an alloy of tin with minor amounts of antimony and copper;
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copper with some zinc makes brass for a variety of fittings, and copper with tin forms bronze for plumbing fixtures;
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18-carat gold is 75% gold, with the balance made up of nickel, copper and zinc.
Ceramics
Ceramics are classified as inorganic and nonmetallic materials that are essential to our daily lifestyle. Ceramic and materials engineers are the people who design the processes in which these products can be made, create new types of ceramic products, and find different uses for ceramic products in everyday life.
Ceramics are all around us. This category of materials includes things like tile, bricks, plates, glass, and toilets. Ceramics can be found in products like watches (quartz tuning forks-the time keeping devices in watches), snow skies (piezoelectric-ceramics that stress when a voltage is applied to them), automobiles (sparkplugs and ceramic engine parts found in racecars), and phone lines. They can also be found on space shuttles, appliances (enamel coatings), and airplanes (nose cones). Depending on their method of formation, ceramics can be dense or lightweight. Typically, they will demonstrate excellent strength and hardness properties; however, they are often brittle in nature. Ceramics can also be formed to serve as electrically conductive materials, objects allowing electricity to pass through their mass, or insulators, materials preventing the flow of electricity. Some ceramics, like superconductors, also display magnetic properties.
Ceramics are generally made by taking mixtures of clay, earthen elements, powders, and water and shaping them into desired forms. Once the ceramic has been shaped, it is fired in a high temperature oven known as a kiln. Often, ceramics are covered in decorative, waterproof, paint-like substances known as glazes.