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Metals in the service of man
Fifth edition, spine creased and cracked with page 161 only just still attached. Shipped from the UK in recyclable card packaging.
- GenresNonfictionScience
366 pages, Paperback
First published January 4, 1944
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William Alexander
477 books35 followersNote: There are several authors by this name on Goodreads. This is William^Alexander.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 8, 2021
Between these two authors and J E Gordon I formed my fascination with engineering when I was in school. Reading it again 5 years on and it’s still as erudite and delightful as when I first read it
April 8, 2013
This is the best book on metallurgy I will probably ever find. I was really enthralled and totally stoked about metal for 3 days, prompting an excursion to an old steel plant and rail museum. I could see this book being used to good effect in an intro. to metallurgy college course.
January 9, 2021
This is the go-to book for those seeking a base understanding of the occurrence, mechanical composition, industrial processing and use of metals on earth. There are many interesting facts in the book, for example:
- There is so much gold and magnesium in the sea water and titanium as well as aluminum (8%) in the earth's crust that we will never run out of it, whereas the global repository of platinum only amounts to about 21 meters cubed.
- There is a considerable amount of waste material in ores, called gangue, as well as other metals. For iron 20% is good, for tin it's 2%, and 1 part radium in 100,000 would also be great.
- Tin melts around 240C, aluminum around 660C, for silver it's 970C, copper melts at 1,080C, and iron requires over 1,550C to melt.
- Creating alloys is difficult because it requires specific ratios and ranges of temperature during the alloying process. However some alloys can be mixed in different amounts for a gradient of mechanical properties. Sometimes a hardener alloy is added in an intermediate heating stage.
- Eutectic alloy: specific ratio of two metals resulting in the lowest freezing point
- The microstructure of metals is one of flakes that are bound together by a network, much like cell walls. The size and strength of these grains differs per metal, for example in brass they are very large. In an alloy one metal often moves to the grain boundaries, immensely fortifying the microstructure by forming a 'grain boundary film'. By heating metals new grains may be formed ('recrystallization').
- In some alloys there is a surplus of one material that cannot be dissolved in the other and as a result forms an 'intermetallic compound' that consists of a molecular fusing of the two materials (such as CuAl2).
- Some crystalline structures consist of a cubic grid with one extra atom in the center of each face of each cube (face-centric), such as aluminum, copper, nickel, lead, silver, gold and platinum, while others, such as iron, vanadium, tungsten, and molybdenum, have an extra atom in the 3D center of each cube (body-centric). Zinc, magnesium, and cadmium have hexagonal lattice structures.
- In alloys one metal may replace nodes in the other metals' lattice structure, known as 'stranger atoms'.
- Part of iron forging depends on the fact of it changing to a face-centric cubic lattice at 906C. This also enables the creation of austenitic steel with 0.3% carbon content. The carbon, on cooling, migrates and precipitates as cementite or pearlite, the latter gives hardness and strength to steel.
- 18/8 stainless is the best-known Austenitic steel with 18% chromium and 8% nickel content. Molybdenum adds corrosion-resistance, titanium or niobium stabilize the carbon.
- Hard, brittle quenched steel is called martensitic and needs tempering to produce a range of hardnesses. Contain approx. 13% chromium.
- Above 900C iron can absorb carbon at the surface, called 'case hardening.' This is useful for typewriter and engine parts.
- Cast iron has low shrinkage for close tolerances and is self-lubricating. Malleable cast iron has more ductility. Nodular ironhas added magnesium or cerium for high-duty purposes.
- Another surface hardening process is nitriding where it is heated in ammonia, where the formed nitrogen combines with iron and creates great wear resistance.
- 5 Categories of shaping processes: from molten metal (die casting, sand casting, centrifugal casting, continuous casting), from hot solid metal (hammering, extrusion, rolling, wire drawing) from cold metal (bending, punching, cold extrusion, pressing, impact extrusion), joining metals, and from powdered metal.
- Creep starts with a small strain (micro-creep). 1st stage: flow occurs at decelerating rate. 2nd stage: further deformation is small and steady. 3rd stage: creep rate accelerates until fracture.
- In stress failures, the grains start to slip and produce 'slip-bands.'
- The Bessemer process blows air through molten pig iron to remove impurities. It produces iron oxide which reacts with silicon, manganese and carbon to be removed as slag.
- Age-hardened aluminum alloys have poor corrosion-resistance so they are 'sandwiched' in between thin sheets of aluminum e.g. for aircraft fuselages.
- Sherardizing = zinc coating iron in a rotating drum
- Beryllium might be the next wonder metal, lighter than aluminum but with a twice as high melting point, good corrosion resistance and a high strength-weight ratio. Can be hot-press sintered.
- Steels can be surface-boronized for hard-wearing surfaces.
- Verdigris: patina on bronze surfaces
- Corrosion happens most on non-homogeneous metals in contact with water that contains some gaseous, liquid or solid substance (it is not the water itself). The presence of bacteria and electric currents will also impact corrosion. Differential aeration, where the bottom of a crack becomes devoid of oxygen, can induce electric currents that cause corrosion. In cathodic protection a zinc coating wears away in sacrificial manner.
- Corrodents such as ammonia for brass, chlorides for stainless steel, and caustic soda in mild steel, can cause stress-corrosion cracking.
- Brazing involves brass and is much stronger than soft-soldering. Capillary jointing is a mass-production-ready method that involves a copper film that melts between two parts and fills the gap through capillary attraction.
- Iron chains are joined by cold hammering.
- Resistance-butt welding involves an electric current as do flash-butt welding, seam welding, and spot welding. Ultrasonic welding is a more recent method based on mechanical vibrations.
- Fusion welding is done by oxy-acetylene or electric arc process. Automated welding can be done with submerged-arc, electro-slag, or argon-arc processes. Many metals can be joined and there is virtually no limitation to the thickness achieved. In pressure welding, perfect joins are created under heat and over 10 tons/sq. in pressure.
- The future of metals involves more research into superalloys, steel vacuum casting, 'super-finishing' processes, ceramic metals ('cermets'), and automated foundries that involve electromagnetic pumps.
Some alloys:
- Monel: nickel and copper, corrosion-resistant. K-Monel contains aluminum and titanium.
- Zamak / Mazak: magnesium, aluminum, zinc, and copper
- Steel: iron and carbon. Carbon unites with iron to form iron carbide, Fe3C.
- Copper-nickel: money is made of this
- Brass: copper and zinc. 70/30 = cartridge brass. 60/40 = alpha-beta brass, stronger. High-tensile brasses have added aluminum, iron, tin, and manganese.
- Bronze: copper and tin (0.5%, and 2.5% zinc)
- Ferro-chrome: 20-55% iron, 45-80% chromium
- Aluminium Bronze: adding 5% of Al makes copper twice as strong, thrice with 10% addition, as strong as mild steel. Above that it becomes useless. Architectural ornaments with golden color.
- Copper-tin
- Nickel-chromium steel - up to thrice as strong as regular steel
- Manganese steel - 1% carbon and 13% manganese for unusual toughness for rock-breaking machinery and steel helmets for example.
- Fast machining rates may cause a carbon steel to over-temper itself and soften. High-speed steels or tungsten steels are developed for this purpose and contain carbon, tungsten, chromium, vanadium and sometimes cobalt. Tungsten has highest melting point of any metal: 3,380C.
- Semi-austenitic precipitation-hardenable steels contain 17% chromium, 7% nickel, 0.15% carbon and some molybdenum and aluminum.
- Magnesium +8% Aluminum: used for aircraft wheels
- Aluminum + 1-7% magnesium, 1% manganese, 0.5% silicon and 0.5% iron have high strength and corrosion-resistance, used for ship building.
- Y-Allow: Aluminum +4% copper, 2% nickel, and 1.5% magnesium.
- Aluminum-silicon: stronger and tougher, used in sandcasting and diecasting
- Invar: Iron +36% nickel low-expansion alloy
- Inconel: austenitic nickel-chromium-based superalloy
- Magnet alloys: Alcomax (nickel, iron, and aluminum), Alnico (aluminum, nickel, cobalt)
- Nimonic: 80% nickel, 20% chromium, for resistance wires
- Magnesium +0.7% zirconium, 3% thorium, 2.5% zinc is used in jet engines. Highest strength/weight ratio of any cast constructional metal
- Beryllium bronze: 2-3x stronger than mild steel
- Stellite: cobalt, chromium and tungsten, used for machining hard metals
- Pyrophoric cerium alloy is used for the spark in lighters
- Three groups of Titanium alloys: 1. 5% Aluminum, 2.5% tin and 2% copper. 2. Duplex microstructure. 6% aluminum and 4% vanadium. 3. lesser used. 15% molybdenum, or chromium and vanadium.
This book contains a surprising amount of information and goes into respectable depth, yet make no mistake thinking that you will be even somewhat an expert on the topic. That will require years of dedicated study and hands-on practice. It is also a bit dated. No mention of recent processes such as hydroforming, metal injection molding, or additive manufacturing. Nevertheless the book remains a must-have.
- There is so much gold and magnesium in the sea water and titanium as well as aluminum (8%) in the earth's crust that we will never run out of it, whereas the global repository of platinum only amounts to about 21 meters cubed.
- There is a considerable amount of waste material in ores, called gangue, as well as other metals. For iron 20% is good, for tin it's 2%, and 1 part radium in 100,000 would also be great.
- Tin melts around 240C, aluminum around 660C, for silver it's 970C, copper melts at 1,080C, and iron requires over 1,550C to melt.
- Creating alloys is difficult because it requires specific ratios and ranges of temperature during the alloying process. However some alloys can be mixed in different amounts for a gradient of mechanical properties. Sometimes a hardener alloy is added in an intermediate heating stage.
- Eutectic alloy: specific ratio of two metals resulting in the lowest freezing point
- The microstructure of metals is one of flakes that are bound together by a network, much like cell walls. The size and strength of these grains differs per metal, for example in brass they are very large. In an alloy one metal often moves to the grain boundaries, immensely fortifying the microstructure by forming a 'grain boundary film'. By heating metals new grains may be formed ('recrystallization').
- In some alloys there is a surplus of one material that cannot be dissolved in the other and as a result forms an 'intermetallic compound' that consists of a molecular fusing of the two materials (such as CuAl2).
- Some crystalline structures consist of a cubic grid with one extra atom in the center of each face of each cube (face-centric), such as aluminum, copper, nickel, lead, silver, gold and platinum, while others, such as iron, vanadium, tungsten, and molybdenum, have an extra atom in the 3D center of each cube (body-centric). Zinc, magnesium, and cadmium have hexagonal lattice structures.
- In alloys one metal may replace nodes in the other metals' lattice structure, known as 'stranger atoms'.
- Part of iron forging depends on the fact of it changing to a face-centric cubic lattice at 906C. This also enables the creation of austenitic steel with 0.3% carbon content. The carbon, on cooling, migrates and precipitates as cementite or pearlite, the latter gives hardness and strength to steel.
- 18/8 stainless is the best-known Austenitic steel with 18% chromium and 8% nickel content. Molybdenum adds corrosion-resistance, titanium or niobium stabilize the carbon.
- Hard, brittle quenched steel is called martensitic and needs tempering to produce a range of hardnesses. Contain approx. 13% chromium.
- Above 900C iron can absorb carbon at the surface, called 'case hardening.' This is useful for typewriter and engine parts.
- Cast iron has low shrinkage for close tolerances and is self-lubricating. Malleable cast iron has more ductility. Nodular ironhas added magnesium or cerium for high-duty purposes.
- Another surface hardening process is nitriding where it is heated in ammonia, where the formed nitrogen combines with iron and creates great wear resistance.
- 5 Categories of shaping processes: from molten metal (die casting, sand casting, centrifugal casting, continuous casting), from hot solid metal (hammering, extrusion, rolling, wire drawing) from cold metal (bending, punching, cold extrusion, pressing, impact extrusion), joining metals, and from powdered metal.
- Creep starts with a small strain (micro-creep). 1st stage: flow occurs at decelerating rate. 2nd stage: further deformation is small and steady. 3rd stage: creep rate accelerates until fracture.
- In stress failures, the grains start to slip and produce 'slip-bands.'
- The Bessemer process blows air through molten pig iron to remove impurities. It produces iron oxide which reacts with silicon, manganese and carbon to be removed as slag.
- Age-hardened aluminum alloys have poor corrosion-resistance so they are 'sandwiched' in between thin sheets of aluminum e.g. for aircraft fuselages.
- Sherardizing = zinc coating iron in a rotating drum
- Beryllium might be the next wonder metal, lighter than aluminum but with a twice as high melting point, good corrosion resistance and a high strength-weight ratio. Can be hot-press sintered.
- Steels can be surface-boronized for hard-wearing surfaces.
- Verdigris: patina on bronze surfaces
- Corrosion happens most on non-homogeneous metals in contact with water that contains some gaseous, liquid or solid substance (it is not the water itself). The presence of bacteria and electric currents will also impact corrosion. Differential aeration, where the bottom of a crack becomes devoid of oxygen, can induce electric currents that cause corrosion. In cathodic protection a zinc coating wears away in sacrificial manner.
- Corrodents such as ammonia for brass, chlorides for stainless steel, and caustic soda in mild steel, can cause stress-corrosion cracking.
- Brazing involves brass and is much stronger than soft-soldering. Capillary jointing is a mass-production-ready method that involves a copper film that melts between two parts and fills the gap through capillary attraction.
- Iron chains are joined by cold hammering.
- Resistance-butt welding involves an electric current as do flash-butt welding, seam welding, and spot welding. Ultrasonic welding is a more recent method based on mechanical vibrations.
- Fusion welding is done by oxy-acetylene or electric arc process. Automated welding can be done with submerged-arc, electro-slag, or argon-arc processes. Many metals can be joined and there is virtually no limitation to the thickness achieved. In pressure welding, perfect joins are created under heat and over 10 tons/sq. in pressure.
- The future of metals involves more research into superalloys, steel vacuum casting, 'super-finishing' processes, ceramic metals ('cermets'), and automated foundries that involve electromagnetic pumps.
Some alloys:
- Monel: nickel and copper, corrosion-resistant. K-Monel contains aluminum and titanium.
- Zamak / Mazak: magnesium, aluminum, zinc, and copper
- Steel: iron and carbon. Carbon unites with iron to form iron carbide, Fe3C.
- Copper-nickel: money is made of this
- Brass: copper and zinc. 70/30 = cartridge brass. 60/40 = alpha-beta brass, stronger. High-tensile brasses have added aluminum, iron, tin, and manganese.
- Bronze: copper and tin (0.5%, and 2.5% zinc)
- Ferro-chrome: 20-55% iron, 45-80% chromium
- Aluminium Bronze: adding 5% of Al makes copper twice as strong, thrice with 10% addition, as strong as mild steel. Above that it becomes useless. Architectural ornaments with golden color.
- Copper-tin
- Nickel-chromium steel - up to thrice as strong as regular steel
- Manganese steel - 1% carbon and 13% manganese for unusual toughness for rock-breaking machinery and steel helmets for example.
- Fast machining rates may cause a carbon steel to over-temper itself and soften. High-speed steels or tungsten steels are developed for this purpose and contain carbon, tungsten, chromium, vanadium and sometimes cobalt. Tungsten has highest melting point of any metal: 3,380C.
- Semi-austenitic precipitation-hardenable steels contain 17% chromium, 7% nickel, 0.15% carbon and some molybdenum and aluminum.
- Magnesium +8% Aluminum: used for aircraft wheels
- Aluminum + 1-7% magnesium, 1% manganese, 0.5% silicon and 0.5% iron have high strength and corrosion-resistance, used for ship building.
- Y-Allow: Aluminum +4% copper, 2% nickel, and 1.5% magnesium.
- Aluminum-silicon: stronger and tougher, used in sandcasting and diecasting
- Invar: Iron +36% nickel low-expansion alloy
- Inconel: austenitic nickel-chromium-based superalloy
- Magnet alloys: Alcomax (nickel, iron, and aluminum), Alnico (aluminum, nickel, cobalt)
- Nimonic: 80% nickel, 20% chromium, for resistance wires
- Magnesium +0.7% zirconium, 3% thorium, 2.5% zinc is used in jet engines. Highest strength/weight ratio of any cast constructional metal
- Beryllium bronze: 2-3x stronger than mild steel
- Stellite: cobalt, chromium and tungsten, used for machining hard metals
- Pyrophoric cerium alloy is used for the spark in lighters
- Three groups of Titanium alloys: 1. 5% Aluminum, 2.5% tin and 2% copper. 2. Duplex microstructure. 6% aluminum and 4% vanadium. 3. lesser used. 15% molybdenum, or chromium and vanadium.
This book contains a surprising amount of information and goes into respectable depth, yet make no mistake thinking that you will be even somewhat an expert on the topic. That will require years of dedicated study and hands-on practice. It is also a bit dated. No mention of recent processes such as hydroforming, metal injection molding, or additive manufacturing. Nevertheless the book remains a must-have.
April 4, 2019
.
.
Contents
Preface
'Dramatis Personae'
List Of Plates
A Note On Metrication
1. Metals And Civilisation
2. How We Get Our Metals
3. Making Iron
4. Making Aluminium
5. Alloys
6. Metals Under The Microscope
7. The Inner Structure Of Metals
8. Shaping Metals
9. Testing Metals
10. Iron And Steel
11. The Role Of Carbon In Steel
12. Cast Iron And Alloy Steels
13. Aluminium
14. Copper
15. Four Common Metals
16. Magnesium
17. Some Minor Metals
18. Corrosion
19. Joining Metals
20. Powder Metallurgy
21. Metals And Nuclear Energy
22. The Future Of Metals
Glossary
Index
.
Contents
Preface
'Dramatis Personae'
List Of Plates
A Note On Metrication
1. Metals And Civilisation
2. How We Get Our Metals
3. Making Iron
4. Making Aluminium
5. Alloys
6. Metals Under The Microscope
7. The Inner Structure Of Metals
8. Shaping Metals
9. Testing Metals
10. Iron And Steel
11. The Role Of Carbon In Steel
12. Cast Iron And Alloy Steels
13. Aluminium
14. Copper
15. Four Common Metals
16. Magnesium
17. Some Minor Metals
18. Corrosion
19. Joining Metals
20. Powder Metallurgy
21. Metals And Nuclear Energy
22. The Future Of Metals
Glossary
Index
January 2, 2012
Very clearly written introduction to metallurgy dating from about 1944. I don't know how much is still relevant, but the references to wartime restrictions and uses of metals are interesting. I picked this up out of interest and read it over a couple of relaxed afternoons.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews