Alloys Types and Terms

  • Aluminum alloy is a metallic material made from a combination of aluminum and another element, aluminum being the main component.
  • Binary alloys are made up of two components.
  • Brass is an alloy formed from copper and zinc.
  • Bronze is an alloy formed from copper, zinc and sometimes tin, which produces a deep reddish-brown color.
  • Casting alloys are alloys used to form objects in molds, and they are more easily molded than other alloys.
  • Copper alloy is a combination of copper and another element, in which copper is the chief component.
  • Custom alloys can be engineered to have specific properties that meet requirements for a specific application.
  • Ferrous alloys are all alloys that are based on iron.
  • Hastelloy is a trademark alloy from Hayes International, Inc. and is made up of nickel mixed with one of several options: cobalt, iron, copper, titanium, aluminum, etc. Hastelloys are considered to be superalloys and are used in highly corrosive and erosion prone environments.
  • Iconel is an alloy made from nickel and chromium and is often used in the nuclear engineering, industrial furnace and rocket engine industries because of its resistance to high temperatures and corrosion.
  • Intermetallics are alloys of two or more metals in a certain proportion, forming a new chemical compound.
  • Metal alloy is an amalgamation of two or more elements, one of which must be a metal.
  • Monel is a trademarked alloy made up of nickel and copper with some manganese and iron; it is primarily known as a rust-resistant and corrosion resistant material.
  • Nickel alloy is a metallic material predominantly comprised of nickel.
  • Non-Ferrous alloys are a mix of two or more non-ferrous metals, not containing iron.
  • Quarternary alloys are alloys made up of four different components.
  • Steel alloys are most commonly made up of nickel, chromium, silicon, manganese, tungsten, molybdenum and vanadium, and are used for their increased hardness, strength and chemical resistance.
  • Superalloys, or high-performance alloys, can withstand extreme temperatures that would destroy metals like steel and aluminum. A superalloy will have excellent mechanical strength, surface stability and corrosion resistance.
  • Ternary alloys are alloys made up of three different components.
  • Titanium alloy is a metal alloy in which titanium remains the main component.

Alloy - A substance that has metallic properties and is composed of two or more elements, at least one of which is a metal.

Alloying element - An element added to a metal that effects changes in structure and properties.

Ion implantation - A process using beams of ions of carbon, nitrogen and other elements which are fired into metals in a vacuum chamber in order to produce a thin layer of alloy on the metal surface.

Malleable - A process used to change the shape or form of metals and alloys.

Metallurgy - The study of the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds and their alloy mixtures.

Powder metallurgy - The process by which alloys are mixed in powder form and heated into a solid, homogeneous alloy.