Introduction:
Unlike mild steel, non-ferrous Mattel do
not in general display the discontinuity of yield point in the stress-strain
curve. Appealed alloys may pass through a period of more rapid extension but
cold worked metals pass imperceptibly from the proportional relationship to the
condition where plastic flow has occurred, and the whole curves is smooth. For
such material the yield strength is usually found by determining the load
necessary to produce a specified total elongation.
An important method of increasing the
strength and hardness of non-ferrous metals is by cold working in which the grains
flow by a process involving the slip of blocks of blocks of atoms over each
other, along definite crystallographic planes. Many alloys can be hardened and strengthened
by heat - treatment consisting of two-step process. First the alloy is given a
solution heat-treatment followed by rapid quenching, and then a precipitation
or ageing treatment is given to cause separation of second phase from solid
solution and hardening. These alloys after a solution treatment are
comparatively soft and consist of homogeneous grains of solid solution
generally indistinguishable microscopically from a pure metal. Rapid cooling
after solution treatment retains the supersaturated solution at room
temperature, and if the alloy be subsequently reheated to a suitable
temperature, fine particle of a new phase are formed and in time will grow to a
microscopically resolvable size. At some stage in this precipitation process,
the hardness, the tensile strength, and particularly the yield strength will be
considerably increased.
Copper:
Copper is a very important metal in
industry as has great corrosion resistance property. It has got good strength
which is maintain at moderate temperature. It is very ductile and can be worked
in to complex shapes. It can be very easily welded, soldered and riveted. It
has got very high heat conductivity and electrical conductivity.
Material Properties:
|
Annealed
|
Cold
worked
|
Tensile
strength kg/cm2
|
2000
- 2250
|
3000
- 4500
|
Hardness
brinell
|
45
- 55
|
80-100
|
Elongation
percent on 50mm
|
50-60
|
5-20
|
Modulus
of Elasticity
|
0.95
to 1.2 x 106 kg/cm2
|
0.95
to 1.2 x 106kg/cm2
|
Copper and its alloys can be easily
joined by soldering, brazing and welding.
Refining of copper:
Blister copper, as obtained after
roasting and converting the copper ore, contains about 98.5% copper and the
rest 1.5% is made up of nickel, iron, selenium, lead, arsenic, antimony,
bismuth, sulphur, precious metals, etc. Such a copper cannot be used in
industry. So it is further refined by the processes in the sequence given
below:
(1) Fire Refining: in order to produce
purer and homogeneous anodes.
(2) Electrolytic Refining: For refining
precious metals and removing the impurities.
(3) Second Firing: For adjusting the
physical properties of electrolytic copper for use in industry.
After electrolytic refining operation, cathodes
may be used directly for making alloys, but if copper is to be rolled to
fabricated forms, it is melted and cast into wires, bars, billets. After the
second firing operation, the correctly refined castings solidify with an
approximately - level surface, the gas evolved during solidification balancing
the shrinkage that would otherwise occur. This is known as though-pitch copper
and has a density of 8.4 to 8.7 g/cc
when cast, 8.89 to 8.92 when worked and annealed.
Types of Copper:
(1)
High conductivity copper.
(2)
Best select copper.
(3)
Arsenical copper.
(4) Deoxidised copper.
Uses of copper:
Copper is used in huge quantity for
making copper wire. It is used for making alloys such as brass. On account of
its high resistance to corrosion, it is used in the form of copper sheets in
chemical work, and food and brewing plants.
Copper can be cold rolled extensively up
to 870ºC and beyond it hot-worked. Cold rolling
increases the hardness and strength. Copper wire above 0.10mm diameter is
commonly made by drawing from a hot-rolled rod without annealing but smaller
size involve intermediate anneals. Copper shapes for electrical switch parts
are made by extrusion, brushes and commutator sections by rolling and drawing.
Copper containing small amounts of
silver or antimony retains the properties attained by cold working to a higher
temperature than pure copper. This is useful where comparatively high
temperature are to be withstood, as in soldering or enamelling operations.
Lead:
Lead is obtained from its ores, by
concentration, floatation, and reduction in blast furnaces. The crude lead is
purified by washing with molten zinc, and the resulting lead is cast into pigs.
Properties of lead:
Lead is a soft and weak metal. its
tensile strength is about 150 kg/cm2. It is very malleable and
ductile. It is very heavy and resists corrosion. It has high density, low melting
point and high boiling point. It can be easily melted(melting point 327ºC),
cast, rolled and extruded. It is highly malleable and pliable. So it is easily
melted during fabrication and installation. It has low strength and due to that
its ductility is also low. It has got low elastic limit, high coefficient of
thermal expansion and got very high anti-frictional properties. It is a good
insulator against nuclear radiation. Impurities present in lead are very small
but have profound effect chemically. Based on the content of impurities lead
can be classified in to the following groups:
(1)
Corroding lead.
(2)
Chemical lead.
(3)
Tellurium lead.
(4) Antimonial lead.
Uses of lead :
(1) Lead is used in the manufacture of a
number of chemicals. (ex) it is used for lining in the tank, when ground
bauxite is treated with sulphuric acid for manufacturing alum, etc. The heating
Coil is also made of lead.
(2) It is used Battery plates.
(3)
Lead can be safely used in various processes where it comes in contact with the
following chemical:
(a) Solvents such as alcohols, acetone,
trichloroethylene, etc.
(b) Acids such as sulphuric acid, chromic
acid, hydrofluoric acid, etc.
(c) Alkalise such as ammonium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, etc.
(4) It is introduced into alloys to
produced free-cutting characteristics.
(5) In paint industry lead is used as
oxide of basic carbonate as pigment.
Aluminium:
First
stage in the production of aluminium is the production of alumina by chemical
refinement of bauxite. Aluminium is then produced by the electrolysis of
alumina dissolved in a bath of molten cryolite. It is available in the market
as wrought and cast products in the form of ingots or notched bars for
remelting. It is possible to obtain over 99.97% pure
aluminium commercially.
Properties of Aluminium:
Physical
properties: Aluminium is a silver white metal. Its outstanding properties are
lightness good electrical and thermal conductivity. It is a good reflector of
light and a good radiator of energy. It is non-magnetic. It is resistant to
atmospheric attack. Oxide film that is set up upon exposure to air insulates it
against continued attack. It has good tensile strength in the form of alloys.
Due to its ductility it can be easily worked. By itself it is very weak and ductile
and metals at 660ºC. It's tensile strength is 600kg/cm2 but it can
be increased by cold working.
Aluminium is generally 99.9% pure as
obtain by hall-heroult process and impurities of iron and silicon present from
alloy with aluminium. Pure aluminium is silvery white in colour but commercial
aluminium due to impurities has got a bluish tinge.
Chemical Properties:
It is resistant to atmosphere due to the
formation of a protective oxide film. This oxide film is very thin, less than
0.02micron (µm) in thickness but is impervious and highly protective. On
heating, this film increase in thickness. Heat of combination of aluminium with
oxygen is very high. Finely divided powered aluminium burn in air.
Uses
and Engineering Application:
(1)
Chemical and Food Industry:
Aluminium is resistant to many mineral
and organic acids, salt solutions, organic compounds, sulphur and many other
substances. Aluminium is available in different fabricated forms and it can be
assembled and finished by different processes. Due to all these reasons it is
used for fabricating equipment for chemical and food processing industries.
(2)
Metallurgical Industries:
Aluminium is used in the metallurgy
of iron and steel as it is a powerful deoxidizer and reduces the dissolved and
combined oxygen content of molten steel.
(3)
Structural Application:
Due to its light weight and high tensile strength it is used for the
construction of aeroplanes, Buses, Tracks, Trains and ships.
(4) Aluminium also used in Electrical
industry, Brewery industry.
Nickel:
Properties of Nickel:
Nickel is a hard, lustrous, white metal.
It fuses at 1484ºC. It can take up high polish and is stable in dry air.
However, when exposed to dampness, it tarnishes. It is not attacked by alkalis.
Cast nickel contains carbon which makes it non-malleable. Its electrical
conductivity is less than iron. It is magnetic and is more resistant to
corrosion and to loss of strength due to heating in comparison to iron.
The ease with nickel can be cast,
machined, spun, drawn into wire, forged, welded, brazed soft and
silver-soldered, makes it as good as mild steel. Nickel is used in large
quantities due to its higher resistance to even highly corrosive solutions.
Physical properties:
Specific gravity
|
8.9
|
Melting point
|
1458ºC
|
Tensile strength
|
3700 kg/cm2
|
Thermal conductivity at 100ºC
|
0.145
|
Thermal conductivity at 290ºC
|
0.128
|
Specific heat mean 0 to 100ºC
|
0.1147
|
Coefficient of linear expansion
between 25 to 100ºC
|
1.33x10-6
|
Zinc:
Zinc is a weak metal . Zinc tensile
strength is 1550kg/cm2. It resists corrosion due to formation of a
dense layer of corrosion product which insulates it against continued
corrosion.
Uses of Zinc:
Zinc is used as a protective coating for
steel. Zinc is applied on steel by hot dipping or by electroplating . It is
used in the form of rolled sheets for rooting and battery containers, and as a
lining for transportation cases, because it can be made water and air-tight and
is proof against insects, etc.
Tin:
Properties of tin:
Specific gravity
|
7.285
|
Melting point
|
232ºC
|
Tensile strength
|
130kg/cm2
|
It is soft metal having very low tensile
strength. When cold it is quite brittle and it cracks when it is bent. It is
malleable at about 100ºC.At this temperature it can be rolled into sheets or
drawn into pipes.
Uses of Tin:
(1) As it is not corroded by water and
organic acid, it is used for lining
copper and iron tanks and also cooking vessels. it is plated on iron
sheets.
(2) it is used to form very useful
alloys such as solder, bell metal, bearing alloys etc.