Metals are divided into two groups: ferrous and non-ferrous. Ferrous metals are iron and its alloys. Iron to Earth ratio – 5.1%. This metal is among the most commonly encountered.
Iron is not used in pure form, but the alloy of iron with carbon (in a mixture of more than 2% of the latter), cast iron, found the widest possible use in the life of mankind: in the engineering and construction industries, in the food industry and just in everyday life. No less popular steel. The same iron and carbon alloy, but in a smaller percentage in the carbon mixture.
Ferrous metal
Ferrous metals are used to manufacture pipes, rails, and construction structures. The rolling mills produce the so-called black rolled: channel, corner, reinforcement, etc. Due to the high strength, the rolling of ferrous metals is widely used in the construction of frames, partitions, floors in buildings and structures. However, due to the heavy weight of the products made of these metals, special machinery is required for their installation. For example, cranes, which significantly complicates and increases the cost of all construction.
The achievements of modern construction technologies make it possible to apply a method of reducing the weight of building materials made of metal, preserving strength, reliability and durability. In the metal frames of buildings are used C-shaped profile, which allows to significantly reduce the weight of the construction, accelerate the construction. These building profiles are made of galvanized steel with enamel coating.
Using such material in the construction of your home, the owner receives a guarantee of:
- high corrosion resistance;
- rot resistance;
- preservation of shape and absence of deformation;
- easy installation;
- reduced thermal conductivity;
- easy installation without the need for special equipment;
- further finishing possibilities.
The use of steel and cast iron is not limited to building a house. A variety of household items from steel knives and cutlery to steel sewing needles provide comfort or adorn our existence. The body of your personal car, the steel frame of your child’s baby stroller, elegant, sturdy frame of a new bike are impossible without the application of these metals.
Garden bench on massive cast-iron legs, forged fence lattice, fireplace tongs as the echo of style «retro» bring to your life notes of style and sense of reliability of being. Iron, despite the active replacement of polymers in the technology market, confidently asserts its position where its strength and heat resistance are indispensable.
Non-ferrous metals
There is no iron in non-ferrous metals. They are called colored because of the property of the presence of shades of color: yellow, red, white. This group of metals has low hardness, high plasticity, relative to black low melting point. They are far less common in nature than iron and difficult to extract. However, they have such unique properties that their presence in our lives is indispensable.
Aluminum, copper, lead, chromium can be distinguished from the most popular in the national and household. Window metal profiles, crockery, finishing materials, wires… Aluminum and its alloys are present in any home.
Chrome furniture fittings and front door handles, copper (actually brass) jam bowl, bronze figurines, tin grandfather ashtray, tungsten filament incandescent in a simple electric bulb. There are many things and objects in our house of metal! And I wouldn’t forget to mention the barbecue and the shampoos, the boilers, the cauldrons and the ironing pan and other things.
Among non-ferrous metals are distinguished precious: platinum, gold, silver. For their unusually high resistance to chemicals, they have another distinctive name – noble metals.
Special words deserve jewelry from these metals: rings, earrings, bracelets. Items that are especially important – wedding gold rings, a studded silver cross, have their own secret meaning and have a special meaning in their daily wearing. Hard to imagine in a plastic version.
In each house, without exaggeration, you can count hundreds of items made of metals and their alloys. The properties of these materials allow to include them in the list of the most popular in our home.
