Alloying element

Alloying elements are added to wrought alloys in quantities ranging from 1 to 7% (in mass per cent), and in higher quantities, up to 20% silicon, to casting alloys. These elements are copper, magnesium, manganese, silicon, and zinc. 

Some of these elements may be added simultaneously silicon and magnesium for casting alloys of the series 40000, magnesium and silicon for wrought alloys of the 6000 series, and zinc and copper for those of the 7000 series. Alloying elements determine the common basic properties of alloys belonging to the same series. 

The metallurgy of industrial aluminium alloys is, therefore, based on six systems  

The influence of the main alloying elements is explained in Table A.3.1. 

The designation of aluminium alloys depends on the alloying element. 

Requirements are placed on alloying elements in steel to control strength, weldability, and notch toughness. 

Most engineering alloys contain multiple constituent elements to achieve the desired metallurgical and mechanical properties. Superalloys Rene N6 and CSMX-IOM are composed of as many as twelve or thirteen microalloying elements to enhance their properties at elevated temperatures (Durand-Charre, 1997). These alloying elements are added for specific purposes and 

Each defined alloy has a specified alloy composition along with certain unspecified elements accidentally introduced into the alloy during production. The report of these imspecified elements is permitted according to ASTM Standard A751. However, it is neither practical nor necessary to specify limits for every unspecified element that might be present. 

Grain boundary strengthening precipitation in Ni-base superalloys. (Reprinted from Mitchell, R., Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, Nickel-Base Superalloys Group, University of Cambridge, http //www.msm.cam.ac.uk/UTC/projects, accessed March 2,2009. With permission.) 

Many alloying elements in Ni-base superalloys are only of small quantities despite their critical contributions to the superalloy s properties and applications. The carbon content is usually from 0.02 to 0.2 wt%, boron from 0.005 to 0.03 wt%, and zirconium from 0.005 to 0.1 wt%. To reproduce these alloys without knowing their original design details, reverse engineering needs to accurately analyze the alloy chemical composition, particularly the quantitative analysis of the critical elements that appear only in trace amounts. 

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For example,copper has relatively good corrosion resistance under non-oxidizing conditions. It can be alloyed with zinc to yield a stronger material (brass), but with lowered corrosion resistance. Flowever, by alloying copper with a passivating metal such as nickel, both mechanical and corrosion properties are improved. Another important alloy is steel, which is an alloy between iron (>50%) and other alloying elements such as carbon. 

Common alloying elements include nickel to improve low temperature mechanical properties chromium, molybdenum, and vanadium to improve elevated-temperature properties and silicon to improve properties at ordinary temperatures. Low alloy steels ate not used where corrosion is a prime factor and are usually considered separately from stainless steels. 

For the same lattice strains, the larger the valency difference between solute and solvent, the greater the hardening. The strengthening influence of alloying elements persists to temperatures at least as high as 815°C. Valency effects may be explained by modulus differences between the various alloys... 

Plain Carbon and Low Alloy Steels. For the purposes herein plain carbon and low alloy steels include those containing up to 10% chromium and 1.5% molybdenum, plus small amounts of other alloying elements. These steels are generally cheaper and easier to fabricate than the more highly alloyed steels, and are the most widely used class of alloys within their serviceable temperature range. Figure 7 shows relaxation strengths of these steels and some nickel-base alloys at elevated temperatures (34). 

Lead and its alloys are generally melted, handled, and refined in cast-iron, cast-steel, welded-steel, or spun-steel melting ketdes without fear of contamination by iron (qv). Normal melting procedures require no dux cover for lead. Special reactive metal alloys require special alloying elements, duxes, or covers to prevent dross formation and loss of the alloying elements. 

The lead—copper phase diagram (1) is shown in Figure 9. Copper is an alloying element as well as an impurity in lead. The lead—copper system has a eutectic point at 0.06% copper and 326°C. In lead refining, the copper content can thus be reduced to about 0.08% merely by cooling. Further refining requites chemical treatment. The solubiUty of copper in lead decreases to about 0.005% at 0°C. 

Cold-roUed alloys of lead with 0.06 wt % teUurium often attain ultimate tensile strengths of 25—30 MPa (3625—5350 psi). High mechanical strength, excellent creep resistance, and low levels of alloying elements have made lead—teUurium aUoys the primary material for nuclear shielding for smaU reactors such as those aboard submarines. The aUoy is self-supporting and does not generate secondary radiation. 

When a component at an austenitizing temperature is placed in a quenchant, eg, water or oil, the surface cools faster than the center. The formation of martensite is more favored for the surface. A main function of alloying elements, eg, Ni, Cr, and Mo, in steels is to retard the rate of decomposition of austenite to the relatively soft products. Whereas use of less expensive plain carbon steels is preferred, alloy steels may be requited for deep hardening. 

Rapidly quenching to room temperature retains a maximum amount of alloying element (Cu) in soHd solution. The cooling rate required varies considerably with different alloys. For some alloys, air cooling is sufficiently rapid, whereas other alloys require water-quenching. After cooling, the alloy is in a relatively soft metastable condition referred to as the solution-treated condition. 

Heat Treatment of Steel. Steels are alloys having up to about 2% carbon in iron plus other alloying elements. The vast application of steels is mainly owing to their ability to be heat treated to produce a wide spectmm of properties. This occurs because of a crystallographic or aHotropic transformation which takes place upon quenching. This transformation and its role in heat treatment can be explained by the crystal stmcture of iron and by the appropriate phase diagram for steels (see Steel). 

Additions of selected alloying elements raise the recrystaUization temperature, extending to higher temperature regimes the tensile properties of the cold-worked molybdenum metal. The simultaneous additions of 0.5% titanium and 0.1% zirconium produce the TZM aUoy, which has a corresponding... 

Molybdenum, an unusually versatile alloying element, imparts numerous beneficial properties to irons and steels and to some alloy systems based on cobalt, nickel, or titanium. Comprehensive summaries of uses through 1948 (24) and 1980 (25) are available. 

Steels having adequate hardenabiHty develop martensitic stmctures in practical section sizes. Molybdenum is a potent contributor to hardenabiHty, and has been shown to be even more effective in the presence of carehiUy selected amounts of other alloying elements (26). The end-quench test has become the accepted method for measuring hardenabiHty, and the data can be correlated with section size. Technical societies worldwide have standardized hardenabiHty limits (bands) for a large number of carbon and alloy steels standards of the Society of Automotive Engineers are examples (27). 

Niobium is important as an alloy addition in steels (see Steel). This use consumes over 90% of the niobium produced. Niobium is also vital as an alloying element in superalloys for aircraft turbine engines. Other uses, mainly in aerospace appHcations, take advantage of its heat resistance when alloyed singly or with groups of elements such as titanium, tirconium, hafnium, or tungsten. Niobium alloyed with titanium or with tin is also important in the superconductor industry (see High temperature alloys Refractories). 

In addition to these principal alloying elements, which provide soHd solution strengthening and/or precipitation strengthening, wrought alloys may contain small amounts of titanium and boron [7440-42-8J, B, for control of ingot grain size, and ancillary additions of chromium, manganese, and zirconium to provide dispersoids. AH commercial alloys also contain iron and siUcon. 

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