METALS - DIVISION 5
GENERAL HISTORY OF METALS
Lead, Copper (Bronze/Brass), Silver, Gold used by
prehistoric civilizations. Iron used 4000 years ago.
Carbon introduced to make quality steel in ancient
Syria and Toledo (Spain); techniques lost during
Dark Ages, but rediscovered in 1730s.
Consistent quality carbon steel allowed taller
building construction by supplementing, reinforcing
and replacing masonry.
METAL PRODUCTS
Metals: Copper, Lead, Bronze, Iron, Pewter, Brass,
Nickel, Aluminum, Stainless Steel, Steel.
Processes: Cast, Forged, Wrought, Extruded, Hot-
rolled, Cold-rolled.
Shapes: Slabs, Sheets and Rolls, Plates, Structural
Shapes, Bars, Wires and Rods, Tubes and Pipes.
Fabrication: Hot/Cold Forming, Roller Forming,
Stretch/Stamp Forming, Shearing, Machining.
Finishes: Mill finish, Hot/Cold dip Galvanized,
Electroplated, Vitreous, Laminated, Painted.
Connections: Welding/Brazing, Rivets, Bolts,
Screws.
COPPER
First used: circa 5000 BC; 2nd most widely used.
Composition: Occurs in nature in its metallic state,
but today is refined from ore Cuprite: copper oxide
or copper sulfide by roasting, smelting and
converting the ore, then refining it by electrolysis.
Does not corrode in dry air but will oxidize when
heated. Statue of Liberty shows the corroded green
patina. CDA developed numbering system.
Products: Copper is used throughout printing, and
construction industry, including plumbing and
refrigeration piping, electroplating and purifying
water supplies, leather tanning, insecticides, dye and
astringents. Also minting coins, cooking utensils,
roofing, gutters, downspouts and flashing. It is an
alloy to both brass and bronze. There are over 1100
alloys of copper. More products include extrusions,
sheets, plates, bars, round tubing, castings, sand
castings, wire and rods.
Finishes: Mechanical, torched, chemical coatings
Can be laminated.
LEAD
First used: <5000 B.C.
Composition: Atomic No. 82. A soft, weak, heavy
metal ductile (see chart: text pg. 37), corrosive
ETC1251 Engineering Materials and Processes
resistant (enough to resist sulfuric acid) and dense
(enough to stop x-ray penetration).
Products: Radiation protection, sound barrier and
baffle, coating for other metal to resist corrosives.
Paint primers for steel also contain lead, soldering,
and as an additive for alloy compounds.
POISONOUS: OSHA limits usage to 30 days/yr
BRONZE
First used: 3500 BC
Composition: Copper and tin alloy.
Products: Extrusions architectural bronze,
sculptures, hardware, signage and coatings.
IRON
First used: Discovered at different times (text p.
274) 4,000 years old in Egypt; 2,700 in China.
Ramses II: 1292 to 1225 B.C. Iron was not
extensively used in the west until 100 B.C.
Used first in U.S. beginning about 1640.
Composition: Iron ore (Taconite), which is iron
mixed with other minerals, is from Lake Superior
region, Alabama, New Jersey, New York, &
California; Canada provide half of all imports to the
USA (text p. 276). Most common minerals mixed
with iron are Hematite (FE203), Siderite (FeCo3) and
Pyrite (FeS). Limonite may be considered as
magnetite plus water. Taconite and Jasper are
names for a wide variety of iron bearing rocks with
iron contents ranging between 22% and 30%.Carbon
is added to make high strength steel.
1. Iron is the chemical element (fe) ferrous.
2. Earths crust has 5% iron.
3. Rarely found in metallic form.
4. Pure iron is soft, ductile, easily shaped, and
relatively weak.
5. Wrought iron is nearly pure.
Products: Cast, forged and wrought iron products
are found in many early trades, including
horseshoes, hardware, wheels, and barrel rings.
Modern products include fencing and decorative
metalwork, rustic hardware, and machine parts.
PEWTER
First used: The early history of pewter in Ireland
goes back at least 800 years.
Composition: The raw materials consist of 95% tin
with the balance made up of copper and antimony.
Products: First used for flatware, plates and mugs,
now used for hardware, architectural finishes and
sculptural pieces.
BRASS
First used: Pre-historic; mixed with calamine ore
Composition: copper/zinc alloy, muted yellow color;
somewhat resistant to tarnishing;
Products: used in plumbing and electrical fixtures,
furniture, door hardware, and musical instruments.
NICKEL
First used:20 BC 3.
Composition: Monel metal has 31% copper
Products: Coinage, tableware, & decorative finish
on hardware and fixtures. The primary use of nickel
in buildings is as an alloying metal, to improve
hardness in other metals
ALUMINUM
First used: Aluminum was first detected in 1807 as
an ingredient in common clay, but it wasnt until
1825 that the first metallic aluminum was produced
and not until 1845 was aluminum powder
successfully transformed into solid particles.
Composition: Aluminum forms 8% of the earths
crust but it is never found free in nature. It is
always combined chemically with other elements,
unlike gold and silver. Aluminum is extracted as
long as the ore has an aluminum oxide content of at
least 45%. Aluminum manufacturing steps: mining,
refining, smelting, alloying and casting.
Products: Cladding panels (i.e. Alucobond ), nails,
garage doors, flashing, gutters, door frames, screens,
termite shields, curtain walls, air ducts, and piping.
STAINLESS STEEL
First used:
Composition: There are stainless qualities of steel
derived from a self-healing chromium oxide that
forms a transparent skin and prevents further
oxidation. 4% to 27% chromium and 3.5% to 22%
nickel.
There are many applications for stainless steels:
1. Martensitic chromium steels are suitable for
application requiring high strength, hardness, a
resistance to abrasion, such as steam and gas 2.
turbine parts, bearings and cutlery. Kitchen
appliances such as range hoods, range tops,
appliance fronts. 3.
2. Ferritic stainless steels contain 12-27 percent
chromium, non-hardening chromium alloys; do
not respond to heat treatment or welding, but
have greater corrosion resistance.
3. Austenitic nickel-chromium steels are the most
numerous and popular category of stainless
steel.
Products: building applications such as fascias,
curtain walls, store fronts, doors, windows, column
covers and railings.
Also used in food preparation and surgical
equipment, hospitals, laboratories.
Austenitic nickel-chromium and manganese steels
used in flatware, cooking, kitchen sinks and
countertops.
STEEL:
First used: ancient Syria and Toledo (Spain);
techniques lost during Dark Ages, but rediscovered
in 1730s.
Composition:
Iron ore is crushed/processed for shipping to
increase iron content.
Fuel (coke) furnishes carbon for combustion and
alloying with iron; coal, oil, natural gas (used in
blast furnace)
Air supplies oxidation and combustion to remove
impurities; forced into furnaces, heated or cooled,
and cleaned to control air pollution.
Flux provides molten slag to remove ash and
separate impurities in iron ore.
Refractories Nonmetal material with superior heat
and abrasion resistance used to form lining of steel
making furnaces, fuels, and vessels to contain
molten metal.
Alloys add desirable properties to steel (increased
strength, weathering, workability); Manganese,
chromium, nickel, silicon, tungsten, molybdenum,
vanadium, and boron are all alloys of steel.
Water used as coolant between processes, especially
during fabrication in closed systems.
STEEL MANUFACTURING
Separation of the metal iron from its oxide done by
heating iron ore while in contact with coke, a form
of carbon.
Must be smelted into pig iron the carbon coke
combines with oxygen and iron forming volatile gas
and a carbon rich iron called pig iron.
Steel making requires lowering the carbon content of
pig iron, controlling impurities in the pig iron and
adding (Fluxes), which are elements to obtain
desired properties.
PROCESS: CASTING
Molten steel pours from a ladle to a reservoir
(tondish). The metal flows out the bottom of the
tondish, the interior of which is hollow.
The gradually solidifying slab moves down through
the secondary cooling zone. A spray of water under
high pressure cools and hardens the metal still
further. The ribbon of steel moves onto a level table,
where a flame-cutting torch slices down through the
metal; it is then carried on rollers to a cooling bed.
The entire process takes less than one-half hour.
PROCESS: FORGING
Forging is a method of working, shaping, or forming
hot metal into desired shapes by pressing or forcing
it between heat-resistant die.
Open-Die Forging A large press squeezes steel
between two flat surfaces. Temperature must be
carefully controlled; this requires frequent re-heating
of the steel between shaping actions.
Close Die Forging A hammer pounds a section of
steel between carved dies until it reaches the desired
shape. Most often use steam hammers. Drop
hammers develop forging force by the fall of a heavy
weight or ram. In double-action hammers the speed
of the falling weight is usually given additional
impetus. Can be used with Aluminum ,Wrought-
steel , forged stock rod, and wrought mil aluminum
products (text p. 361-2).
PROCESS: EXTRUSION
A metal extrusion ingot is a solid or hollow
cylindrical casting used for extrusion into bars, rods,
shapes or tubes; most softer metals can be extruded
by forcing heated metal through shaped dies. In
plastic, forcing plastic material through a shape
orifice to make rod, tubing or sheeting.
Process: An advancing ram forces preheated, plastic
metals through a tough, heat-resistant die of the
desired profile. Vitreous:
PROCESS: COLD-ROLLING
Cold rolled consists of cold rolling, cold reduction,
and cold drawing of previously hot-rolled metals.
This process consists of passing metal at room
temperature through sets of rolls to impact the
desired shape, which reduces the thickness of a flat
product and improves the strength.
PROCESS: HOT-ROLLING
Hot rolling is performed in mills, in rolling
machines, through which an ingot, heated to soften
it, is passed until reduced to the desired shape. H.R.
may be continued until a thickness of about 0.125
inches is obtained. After that, further thinning is
usually accomplished by cold rolling.
Hot steel passes through rolls, which impart
rectangular bloom, billet, or slab shapes. These are
cooled, cleaned, inspected, and reheated for further
rolling.
Products: Plate, Sheet, Structural shapes, Rolled rod
and bar, Forging stock rod, and Redrawn rod.
PRODUCT: WROUGHT METAL
A few steel products that are complex and have
irregular cross sections are made by forging. Linear
products of constant cross sections (bars, tubes,
rods) are made by extruding. Hot rolling and cold
finishing is used with less complex and larger linear
forms (sheets, strips, rods, bars).
Composition: Relatively pure iron, mechanically
mixed with a small amount of iron-silicate) slag,
characterized by good corrosion resistance,
weldability, toughness, and high ductility.
Wrought products account for 90%+ of total steel
production, with shapes that can be used directly in
construction.
FINISHES
Mill Finished: Metal products that are suitable to be
further fabricated or used directly in construction,
after being manufactured by casting, forging,
extruding, or rolling.
Galvanized: Steel that is coated with zinc, usually
done by hot-dipping or electroplating.
Electroplating: Employs an electric current and
electrolytic solution to deposit metallic coatings on
steel or iron.
Vitreous: Can be many materials such as glass-on-
steel. Most common is porcelain enamel used to
coat steel in bathtubs and sanitary ware.
Laminated: Tough plastics applied with
thermosetting adhesives
Painted:
STEEL SHAPES (1) RED-IRON
Standard I: Narrow flange.
Wide Flange: Used for columns, more square beams
and girders.
T Shape: Plank decking, light beams.
L Shape: For supports, structural lintels, and
masonry openings.
C Shape: Light beams, wall framing.
Tubes: Long, hollow, oval, square, rectangle or
multi-surfaced.
Bars: Round, square, hexagonal, or multi-surfaced
PRODUCTS: RED-IRON (HEAVY)
Standard and Wide-Flange I shapes, T shapes,
C channels, L angles, Tubes, Bars
Connections: Welded clip angles, welded, riveted or
bolted.
PRODUCTS: LIGHT-GAGE (Cold-Rolled):
Standard Cee shaped studs (1-5/8 inch by 3-5/8
inch) screwed to Tracks at top and bottom.
Tubes and other bent shapes available.

STEEL SHAPES (2) LT. GAGE

Cee Shape: Stud or joist section with flange
stiffeners.
Track: Used for runner on the top and bottom of
studs Closure for stud assemblies.
(refer to Sweets 05 40 00)
S.T.U.F. Universal Designator System:
Stud Track U=cold-rolled channel Furring
Channels; used to identify common light gauge steel
framing member using Web Depth, Designator,
Width and Metal Thickness i.e 550 S 162 - 54

CONNECTIONS
Welding is the process of forming a metallurgical
bond between 2 or more members of an
assembly.
Brazing is similar to welding, but uses non-ferrous
metals, or alloys with melting point about
800oF, but lower than material jointed.
Rivets use a headed pin as a method of permanent
mechanical fastening. The rivet is inserted
through the steel being joined, and is
mechanically deformed so that a head is made in
both sides of the connection.
Bolts/Angles are heavy duty connectors. Short
lengths of steel angles are used at joints with
beams, with bolts, washers and nuts tightened
with torque wrench.
Screws connect smaller sized members. Self-drilling
galvanized screws are used with light gage
products.