Updated Articles and Resources

By Terence Bell, About.com Guide

Metal Profile: Lithium Created: Friday, May 31, 2013 Updated: Friday, June 07, 2013
Lithium is a soft, light and reactive metal that is critical to modern portable and rechargeable batteries. The silvery-white metal is reactive with both air and water, as a result of it only havin...
Electrical Conductivity in Metals Created: Sunday, October 21, 2012 Updated: Sunday, June 02, 2013
Electrical conductivity in metals is a result of the movement of electrically charged particles. The atoms of metal elements are characterized by the presence of valence electrons - electrons in th...
Metal Profile: Magnesium Created: Monday, October 24, 2011 Updated: Saturday, June 01, 2013
What is magnesium? Magnesium is the lightest of all the metal elements and is primarily used in structural alloys due to its light weight, strength and corrosion resistance.
Refractory Metals Created: Saturday, June 30, 2012 Updated: Saturday, June 01, 2013
The term 'refractory metal' is used to describe a group of metal elements that have exceptionally high melting points and are resistant to wear, corrosion and deformation.
Minor Metals Created: Thursday, November 24, 2011 Updated: Saturday, June 01, 2013
What are minor metals? The term 'minor metals' is used to describe about 40 elemental metals that are normally produced as by-products and not traded on any major exchanges.
Malleability Created: Sunday, September 23, 2012 Updated: Friday, May 31, 2013
What is malleability? Malleability is a physical property of metals that defines the ability to be hammered, pressed or rolled into thin sheets without breaking. In other words, it is the property ...
Lithium Production Created: Friday, May 31, 2013 Updated: Friday, May 31, 2013
In order to extract lithium from brines, the salt-rich waters must first be pumped to the surface into a series of evaporation ponds where solar evaporation occurs over a number of months. Because ...
Lithium History Created: Friday, May 31, 2013 Updated: Friday, May 31, 2013
Lithium products were first commercially available and marketed by Metallgesellschaft AG (Germany) in 1923. Prior to World War II, however, the only market for lithium was
Physical Properties of Beryllium Copper Created: Sunday, March 31, 2013 Updated: Sunday, May 12, 2013
Standard beryllium copper alloys contain close to 2 percent beryllium, while the beryllium content in proprietary alloys can range from 1.5 to 2.7 percent. The standards in the chart below should b...
Metal Profile: Hafnium Created: Sunday, May 12, 2013 Updated: Sunday, May 12, 2013
Hafnium is a silvery, hard and rare refractory metal that is used in heat resistant superalloys, nuclear reactor control rods and electronic applications.
Hafnium History Created: Sunday, May 12, 2013 Updated: Sunday, May 12, 2013
Although predicted to exist by Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869, hafnium was one of the last elements to be discovered, only found using x-ray spectroscopy analysis of zircon in 1923 and isolated shortly t...
Monel Alloys Created: Tuesday, February 26, 2013 Updated: Sunday, March 31, 2013
What are monel alloys? Monel, or nickel-copper, alloys are nickel-base alloys that contain between 29 and 33 percent copper. Such alloys exhibit a number of beneficial properties, including:
Physical and Chemical Properties of Beryllium Created: Sunday, March 31, 2013 Updated: Sunday, March 31, 2013
The physical and chemical properties of beryllium compared with other common alloying elements
Metal Profile: Beryllium Created: Friday, March 29, 2013 Updated: Saturday, March 30, 2013
What is beryllium? Beryllium is a hard and light metal that has a high melting point and unique nuclear properties, which make it vital to numerous aerospace and military applications.
Beryllium History Created: Saturday, March 30, 2013 Updated: Saturday, March 30, 2013
Although first isolated in the late 18th century, a pure metal form of beryllium was not produced until 1828. It would be another century before commercial applications for beryllium developed. Sie...
Metal Profiles Created: Saturday, October 15, 2011 Updated: Friday, March 29, 2013
Who discovered aluminum? How is iron produced? What is tungsten used for? Learn everything you need to know about the history, properties, production and applications of individual metals.
Copper Alloys in Marine Environments Created: Wednesday, October 24, 2012 Updated: Friday, March 29, 2013
Copper has good resistance to corrosion in marine environments and in seawater with moderate flow velocities. These properties are enhanced by alloying copper with nickel, iron, manganese, zinc, le...
Metal Profile: Copper Created: Monday, December 31, 2012 Updated: Thursday, February 28, 2013
What is copper? Copper is a ductile and malleable base metal that is valued for its high thermal and electrical conductivity. Easily identifiable because of its iridescent, golden red color, copper...
Composition of Common Brass Alloys Created: Monday, November 19, 2012 Updated: Thursday, February 28, 2013
The chart below summarizes the composition of a number of commonly used brass alloys:
The History of Brass Created: Monday, November 19, 2012 Updated: Thursday, February 28, 2013
Not long after the Romans had discovered how to produce brass, the alloy started to be used in coinage in areas of modern day Turkey. Brass coins soon spread throughout the Roman Empire and there i...
Metal Profile: Brass Created: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 Updated: Thursday, February 28, 2013
What is brass? Brass is a binary alloy composed of copper and zinc that has been produced for millennia and is valued for its workability, hardness, corrosion resistance and attractive appearance. ...
Brass Alloy Additives Created: Thursday, November 22, 2012 Updated: Thursday, February 28, 2013
Brass, a binary alloy containing copper and zinc, is made of various compositions, depending upon the hardness, durability, machinability and corrosion resistance properties required by the end-user.
Copper Production Created: Saturday, December 29, 2012 Updated: Thursday, February 28, 2013
How is copper produced? Copper is typically extracted from oxide and sulfide ores that contain between 0.5 and 2.0 percent copper. The refining techniques employed by copper producers depend on the...
Copper Applications Created: Thursday, October 11, 2012 Updated: Thursday, February 28, 2013
From common household electrical wiring to boat propellers and from photovoltaic cells to saxophones, copper and its alloys are employed in a myriad of end-uses. In order to better understand coppe...
The Effect of Alloying Agents on Steel Properties Created: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 Updated: Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Different alloying elements each have their own affect on the properties of steel. Some of the properties that can be improved through alloying include:
Copper History Pt. IV Created: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 Updated: Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Along with the advances in metallurgical studies that occurred during the industrial revolution, bringing about an unprecedented number of new applications for copper and copper alloys, the period ...
Copper History Pt. III Created: Thursday, January 31, 2013 Updated: Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Pre-industrial copper production and use. With new production methods and advances in metallurgy, copper extraction and use seemed to return to its previous vibrancy by about the 16th century. In 1...
Monel® 400: Properties & Composition Created: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 Updated: Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Monel® 400 (UNS N04400/W.Nr. 2.4360 and 2.4361) is a solid-solution nickel-copper alloy that is resistant to corrosion in many environments. It has high strength and can only be hardened by co...
ASTM Standards for Copper and Copper Alloys Created: Thursday, January 31, 2013 Updated: Thursday, January 31, 2013
Copper and copper alloys are categorized using numbered systems. These number designations are essential to properly identifying the type, form and condition of any copper alloy. Listed below are t...
EN Standards for Copper and Copper Alloys Created: Thursday, January 31, 2013 Updated: Thursday, January 31, 2013
Copper and copper alloys are categorized using numbered systems. These number designations are essential to properly identifying the type, form and condition of any copper alloy. Listed below are t...
Copper History Pt. II Created: Thursday, January 31, 2013 Updated: Thursday, January 31, 2013
Copper and bronze after the fall of Rome. Despite the development and spread of iron smelting in the 1st millennium BC putting an end to the Bronze Age, copper production grew under the supervision...
Copper History Pt. I Created: Saturday, January 19, 2013 Updated: Thursday, January 31, 2013
Copper is considered to be one of the first metals to be used by humans. The main reason for its early discovery and use is that copper can naturally occur in relatively pure forms.