Nonferrous metals and alloys

MSE-211
Metals and Alloys
ME-06

Lecturer Mudassar Shehzad

 Nonferrous Metals
• Steel and other ferrous alloys are consumed in
exceedingly large quantities because they have
such a wide range of mechanical properties,
may be fabricated with relative ease, and are
economical to produce.
– However, they have some distinct limitations
• relatively high density
• comparatively low electrical conductivity
• inherent susceptibility to corrosion in some common
environments
 Nonferrous Metals
• Alloy systems are classified either according to
the base metal or according to some specific
characteristic of the alloy group
• Metals under discussion are
– Aluminum If we use nickel, lead, tin,
zirconium and zinc as base metals
– Copper
– Magnesium The alloys will
Refractory metals
The noble metals
– Titanium termed as
Superalloys
 Wrought and Cast
Alloys Heat Treatability
• Alloys that are so brittle The heat treatability of an alloy
system is mentioned frequently.
that forming or shaping by
“Heat treatable” designates an
appreciable deformation
alloy whose mechanical strength is
is not possible ordinarily
improved by precipitation
are cast; these are
hardening or a martensitic
classified as cast alloys
transformation , both of which
• On the other hand, those
involve specific heat-treating
that are amenable to procedures.
mechanical deformation
are termed wrought
alloys
Percentage of Metals on Earth Crust
Aluminum and its Alloys
• Modern car with
components made of
aluminum can be
24% lighter than one
with components
made of steel
• Which allows fuel
consumption to be
reduced by 2 liters
per hundred
kilometers
In 1961 the Land Rover launched mass The first engine with aluminium parts was
production of Buick 215 with an eight-cylinder made in 1901 by Carl Benz
V8 engine. Cylinder blocks of this engine were
made of aluminium. With a weight of only
144 kg the engine was a real breakthrough.
Introduction to Aluminum and its alloys
• Abundant element
8% of the earth crust
and normally found
in oxide form Al2O3
• The famous ores of
aluminum are
– Bauxite
– Kaolinite
– Nepheline
– Alunite
 Introduction to Aluminum and its alloys

The extraction of aluminum requires high electrical consumption. These processes

are suitable for the countries which have highly cheap electricity
Features
Production of Aluminum
Bayer Process
Schematic diagram of Bayer Process
 Hall He’roult process
• Aluminum is produces by electrolytic reaction of its molten
oxide with cryolite (Na3AlF6) as an electrolyte
• Cryolite is added to lower the temperature to 950C Tm of
alumina = 2030C
• The electrolytic cell consists of
• Carbon
• As anode (consumable)
• Molten cryolite-aluminium electrolyte

• Liquid aluminum pool

Total reaction
Mechanism of electrolytic reaction
• Cathode
• Floroaluminate anions
are discharged at the
cathode interface to
produce NaF

• Anode
• Al2O3 is dissolved in electrolyte will
produce AlO3(3-) at anode and will
later be discharged to give Al
metal and liberated oxygen, which
will combine with C to form CO2
Overall
reaction
 Solubility of elements in Aluminum
Cu, Zn and Si are the most
commonly used alloying
element in aluminum
which have sufficient solid
solubility
Mg, Cr, Mn and Zr are
used primarily to form
compounds which
control grain structure

According to Hume-Rothery Principal, the Al and Mg makes the (intermetallic) alloy

compound while Al and Cu makes the substitution solid solution
 Hume-Rothery Principle
For Substitutional
solid solution
Rule 1

Rule 2
Must have same crystal
structure Must not differ by 15%
Rule 3 Must have same Valency
Rule 4 Must have same EN
 For interstitial solid solution
• According to Hume-Rothery Principle
• Solute atoms must be smaller than the interstitial sites
• The solute and solvent should have similar
Electronegativity
Al-Mg Alloys Al is fcc Valecny of Al=3 EN of Al=1.61
R(Al)=125pm Mg is hcp Valency of Mg=2 EN of Mg=1.31
R(Mg)=145pm Condition-2 3>2
% difference = 16% dissatisfied Condition-3 Condition-3
Condition-1 satisfied satisfied
dissatisfied

Two of the conditions are satisfied  Not substitutional nor interstitial Solid Solution
It must form Al-Mg compound
 Al-Cu alloy

Al-Cu Alloys Al is fcc Valecny of Al=3 EN of Al=1.61

R(Al)=125pm Cu is fcc Valency of Cu=2 EN of Cu=1.90
R(Cu)=128pm Condition-2 3>2
% difference = 2.4% satisfied Condition-3 Condition-3
Condition-1
satisfied satisfied satisfied

All of the conditions are satisfied  It is substitutional

Solid Solution
 Principles of age-hardening
• Age hardening requires a Heat treatment usually
decrease in solid involves the three
solubility of the alloying following stages:
elements with decreasing 1) To dissolve the alloying elements.
2) Rapid cooling or quenching usually to
temperature. room temperature to obtain
supersaturated solid solution (SSSS) of
these elements in aluminium.
3) Controlled decomposition of the SSSS
to form a finely dispersed precipitates,
normally accompanied with ageing at
appropriate temperatures.
 Decomposition of supersaturated
solid solutions
• Decomposition of SSSS is complex
and normally involves several stages
– The formation of
• Guinier-Preston (GP) Zone Fig (a)
• Intermediate precipitates
• Equilibrium phase
G-P Zone
 Equilibrium

G-P Zone
Very little hardening effect
Intermediate precipitates

Contributes hardening
Hardening Mechanism
Precipitation hardening of Al alloys
Alpha + Beta alloys are heated upto
the Alpha region to dissolve all Beta
Just above the G-P Solvus line
Where the fine precipitates of Beta formed

For age hardening

Holding fine Beta precipitates
G-P Solvus line At temperature just
above G-P solvus line

Temperature G-P Solvus line

Time
 Designation of wrought alloys XX
XXXX
XX

Usually between 0 and 9

If X=8 then it means 75%
Heat treatment is applied to
The sample
Proportional amount
Of strain (X=8 means
75% strained)

No Heat Ordinary Treatment

Special variation to reduce (corrosion) effects
Example: 5083-H116
75% work hardening
Age hardening Temper
designation designation
 1000 series
• Pure aluminum (can be work
hardened)
• Excellent corrosion resistance
• Excellent electrical and
thermal conductivity (e.g.
1060, 99.66% Al)
• Yield strength upto 145MPa
• Food, chemical, heat
exchangers, Electrical wiring,
capacitor foil
• It is weldable
2000 series
• Upto 6.3% Cu
• 2014 4.4Cu-0.8Si-
0.8Mn-0.5Mg
• Can be precipitation
hardened
• Aircraft structures and
mechanical components,
vehicle body panels
• Poor weldability
 3000 series
• Upto 1.2%Mn+Fe
• E.g 3004, 1.2%Mn-1.0Mg
• Strengthening by pinning
effect of (Mn,Fe)Al6.
• Excellent corrosion
resistance
• Work hardening upto
250MPa (YS)
• Cans, chemical vessels,
industrial roofing, pipes
5000 series
• Mg upto 5.1% increases the work
hardening rate
• E.g. 5083 4.4Mg-0.7Mn-0.15Cr
• Work hardening upto 260MPa (YS)
• Very popular alloy for making
Armor plates
6000 series
• Combination of Mg and Si allows the
precipitation hardening with Mg2Si
precipitates
• Eg 6061, 1Mg-0.6Si-0.3Cu-0.2Cr
• Workable, excellent strength and corrosion
resistance
• Limited weldibility for low composition
alloys
 Cu and its alloys
• Introduction/Objectives
 Extraction of copper from ores and refining of copper
 Classification of copper alloys
• • The wrought copper
 Copper zinc alloys (brass)
 Copper tin alloys (bronze)
 Copper aluminium alloys
 Copper silicon alloys
 Copper beryllium alloys
 Copper nickel alloys

0.0068% Copper in earth crust

 Introduction
• Copper is an element and a mineral called native
copper.
• Found in Chile, Indonesia and USA.
• Found in Loei and Khonkhan (but not much).
• Copper is an industrial metal and widely used in
unalloyed and alloyed conditions. (second ranked from
steel and aluminium).
• Used mostly in building constructions and as electronic
products.
 Introduction

Increasing use of electronic parts

in cars raise the amount of copper
used per vehicle.
Extraction of Cu from its ore
 Pyrometallurgical Processes
• Copper sulphide concentrates are
produced through different ore
dressing processes (crushing,
washing, screening, roasting)
• The concentrates are smelted in a
reverberatory furnace to produce
matte (mixture of copper & iron
sulphides, and slag (waste)
• Matte is then converted into
blister copper (elemental copper
with impurities) by blowing air
through the matte in a copper Iron sulphide is oxidised and slagged of while
converter. some copper is also oxidised.
 Refining of blister copper
• Blister copper is later fire-refined in the
process called poling to produce tough pitch
copper, which can be used for some
applications other than electrical applications.
• Most impurities are oxidized and slagged off.
Electrolytic refining of tough-pitch copper
• Further refining of copper to
about 99.95% is for electronics
applications.
• Electrolytic refining converts
fire-refined copper at anode
into high-purity copper at
cathode.
•
• This high-purity copper is
subsequently melted and cast
into shapes.
Physical properties of Cu
Designation of Cu and Cu alloys
 Copper alloys
• Unalloyed copper
• Brass
– Copper Zinc alloys (brassses)
– Alloy brass
• Cu-lead alloys
• Cu-Zn alloys with titanium and aluminum addition
• Bronze
– Cu-Tin alloys
– Cu Aluminum alloys
– Cu-Silicon alloys
– Cu beryllium alloys
• Cu-Ni based
– Coppernickel (Cu-Ni)
– Cu-Ni-Zn
 Cu-Zn alloys (Brasses)
• Gliding Metal (<5% Zn)
• Commercial Bronze (~10% Zn)
• Jewelry Bronze (~12.5% Zn)
• Red Brass (~15% Zn)
• Low Brass (~20% Zn)
• Cartridge Brass (~30% Zn)
• Yellow Brass (~ 35% Zn)
• Muntz Metal (40% Zn)
 Nickel and its alloys
Properties
• Silvery shiny appearance
• High toughness and ductility
• Good high and low temperature
strength
• High oxidation resistance
• Good corrosion resistance
• Ferro-magnetic
Limitations
Relatively high cost
Not mixed with cheap alloying
elements.
 Applications
• Applications required necessary corrosion or heat- resisting
properties and for special engineering applications.
• Chemical plant, heat exchanger, reaction furnace, rotary kiln, turbine
blades.
• Used as alloying elements in stainless steels, and in other elements
such as copper, cobalt, chromium, etc.

Aerospace flow bodies

Turbine blades
 Extraction of Nickel
First discovery of nickel mineral by the German was
mistakenly misunderstood to be rich-copper mineral.

There are three major types of nickel deposits (sources):

1) Nickel-copper sulphide
2) Nickel silicates
3) Nickel laterites and serpentines

Nickeline or niccolite
Nickel laterite deposits Serpentine deposits
 Extraction of Nickel

Reverberatory
Furnace
 Classification of nickel alloys
There are different types of nickel and nickel alloys;

1) Commercially pure nickel

2) Nickel-copper alloys (Monels)

3) Nickel-chromium alloys

4) Nickel-base superalloys

5) Nickel-iron superalloys
Commercially pure nickel
Nickel copper alloys (Monels)
Nickel-Chromium Alloys (Inconels)
 Nickel-base Superalloys
• High temperature heat-resistance alloys, which can
retain high strengths at elevated temperatures.
Microstructure of Nickel-base Superalloys
Nickel Iron Superalloys
Single-crystal castings of nickel-base
superalloys
Applications of Single-crystal castings of
nickel-base superalloys
The End of Nonferrous

Good-luck. . . .

Always respect your teachers