Alloying elements properties

Alloy steels Percentages of alloying elements Properties achieved Typical uses... 

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. 

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. 

The durabihty and versatility of steel are shown by its wide range of mechanical and physical properties. By the proper choice of carbon content and alloying elements, and by suitable heat treatment, steel can be made so soft and ductile that it can be cold-drawn into complex shapes such as automobile bodies. Conversely, steel can be made extremely hard for wear resistance, or tough enough to withstand enormous loads and shock without deforming or breaking. In addition, some steels are made to resist heat and corrosion by the atmosphere and by a wide variety of chemicals. 

For slightly less than 10% of products, alloying elements are introduced to produce properties not available for carbon steels where the functional elements are usually considered to be carbon, siHcon (to 0.6%), and manganese (to 1.65%). Copper, which may be present up to 0.6 wt %, is relatively rare compared to the ubiquitous siHcon and manganese. 

Mechanical properties depend on the alloying elements. Addition of carbon to the cobalt base metal is the most effective. The carbon forms various carbide phases with the cobalt and the other alloying elements (see Carbides). The presence of carbide particles is controlled in part by such alloying elements such as chromium, nickel, titanium, manganese, tungsten, and molybdenum that are added during melting. The distribution of the carbide particles is controlled by heat treatment of the solidified alloy. 

Effect of Various Alloying Elements. The mechanical properties of cast copper alloys are a function of alloying elements and their concentrations. The specific effects of a number of these alloying elements are given in the following sections. 

The quality of steels and alloys depend on content at them alloying elements, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur. The presence of harmful admixtures worsens properties of materials that show up in formation of cracks, decline of plasticity and malleability. In this connection great value has operations, which allow in this as result to decrease content of solute oxygen, phosphoms, sulfur - desoxidation, desulfuration, dephosphorization. 

As you can see from the tables in Chapter 1, few metals are used in their pure state -they nearly always have other elements added to them which turn them into alloys and give them better mechanical properties. The alloying elements will always dissolve in the basic metal to form solid solutions, although the solubility can vary between <0.01% and 100% depending on the combinations of elements we choose. As examples, the iron in a carbon steel can only dissolve 0.007% carbon at room temperature the copper in brass can dissolve more than 30% zinc and the copper-nickel system - the basis of the monels and the cupronickels - has complete solid solubility. 

As we have already seen, when an alloy contains more of the alloying element than the host metal can dissolve, it will split up into two phases. The two phases are "stuck" together by interphase boundaries which, again, have special properties of their own. We look first at two phases which have different chemical compositions but the same crystal structure (Fig. 2.5a). Provided they are oriented in the right way, the crystals can be made to match up at the boundary. Then, although there is a sharp change in... 

A phase is a region of material that has uniform physical and chemical properties. Phases are often given Greek symbols, like a or fi. But when a phase consists of a solid solution of an alloying element in a host metal, a clearer symbol can be used. As an example, the phases in the lead-tin system may be symbolised as (Pb) - for the solution of tin in lead, and (Sn) - for the solution of lead in tin. 

No fewer than 14 pure metals have densities se4.5 Mg (see Table 10.1). Of these, titanium, aluminium and magnesium are in common use as structural materials. Beryllium is difficult to work and is toxic, but it is used in moderate quantities for heat shields and structural members in rockets. Lithium is used as an alloying element in aluminium to lower its density and save weight on airframes. Yttrium has an excellent set of properties and, although scarce, may eventually find applications in the nuclear-powered aircraft project. But the majority are unsuitable for structural use because they are chemically reactive or have low melting points." ... 

Carbon is the cheapest and most effective alloying element for hardening iron. We have already seen in Chapter 1 (Table 1.1) that carbon is added to iron in quantities ranging from 0.04 to 4 wt% to make low, medium and high carbon steels, and cast iron. The mechanical properties are strongly dependent on both the carbon content and on the type of heat treatment. Steels and cast iron can therefore be used in a very wide range of applications (see Table 1.1). 

BS Designation Main Alloying Elements Typical Mechanical Properties ... 

BSI Designation Alloy Elements Heat Treatment Condition Mechanical Properties Tensile Strength Hardness (N/mm2) (DPN) ... 

But numerous papers published during rece t decades showed that hydrogen can be a very useful alloying element for production of new materials (such as hydrogen accumulators, neutron absorbers, etc.) or new technologies for alloy processing with improved treatment parameters as well as with the improved final properties of the alloys. ... 

Steel is essentially iron with a small amount of carbon. Additional elements are present in small quantities. Contaminants such as sulfur and phosphorus are tolerated at varying levels, depending on the use to which the steel is to be put. Since they are present in the raw material from which the steel is made it is not economic to remove them. Alloying elements such as manganese, silicon, nickel, chromium, molybdenum and vanadium are present at specified levels to improve physical properties such as toughness or corrosion resistance. 

Cast irons are iron with high levels of carbon. Heat treatments and alloying element additions produce gray cast iron, malleable iron, ductile iron, spheroidal cast iron and other grades. The mechanical properties vary significantly. Nickel-containing cast irons have improved hardness and corrosion resistance. Copper or molybdenum additions improve strength. 

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