There are many different categories into which metals can be placed. Some metals may be ductile, some may be brittle. Other metals could be magnetic, and some have no magnetism at all. Some types of alloys can be precipitation hardened, and others cannot. The aforementioned are important distinctions; however, when categorizing metals, one of the most important differences worth noting is whether the metal in question is ferrous or non-ferrous.

What is a Ferrous Metal?

A metal with the descriptor “ferrous” means that it has iron in its composition. When the term ferrous metal is used, it also usually implies that iron is a large percentage of the elemental composition. If it’s not the most abundant element, it would probably be the second or third most prolific. If a metal only contains trace amounts of iron, as many metals do, then that small amount is not considered enough to declare the metal ferrous.

What are the Common Properties of Ferrous Metals?

It is difficult to assign common properties to ferrous metals, since they can have a wide variety of alloying elements that greatly change their characteristics. For instance, many ferrous metals are magnetic; however, it is not true for all ferrous metals. Austenitic stainless steel, while considered a ferrous metal, is not magnetic because the large amount of nickel allows it to have a crystal structure that is predominantly austenite at room temperature. Austenite is not magnetic, although it does contain iron. Some ferrous metals, such as cast iron, are extremely strong and brittle. However, low carbon steel, another type of ferrous metal, can be quite soft and ductile because it does not contain as high of an amount of carbon as cast iron.

While it is difficult to place the properties of all ferrous materials under one umbrella, there are some generalizations that can be made with some accuracy. Ferrous metals often have relatively high amounts of strength, especially when compared with copper, tin, and lead alloys. Ferrous metals are also generally hard, and if they’re not alloyed with many other elements or coated, can be subject to rust. Most ferrous materials, with the exception of austenitic stainless steel and some other grades, are magnetic.

Examples of Ferrous Metals

As was mentioned earlier in the article, there are many different types of ferrous metals.

The following are some examples of ferrous metals:

• Carbon Steel

• Stainless Steel

• Cast Iron

• Alloy Steel

Carbon Steel

Carbon steels are possibly the most widely used type of ferrous metal. They are primarily made up of iron, with over 90% of their chemical composition being that element. The only other major alloying element in carbon steel is carbon. There are only trace amounts of other elements. Common applications of carbon steels include structures, furniture, and automotive components.

Stainless Steel

Stainless steel is another group of ferrous metals that are commonly used. In general, stainless steels have a high amount of chromium that helps them to resist corrosion better than carbon steels. Stainless steels can be further broken down into subgroups. Austenitic stainless steels have the most corrosion resistance, with high amounts of nickel and chromium. There are also ferritic, martensitic, and duplex stainless steels. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages depending on the application. Common applications of stainless steels include appliances, pharmaceutical and medical equipment, food-grade equipment, and knives.

Cast Iron

Cast iron is a type of ferrous metal that has more carbon than most other types. This gives it a high amount of strength. Although high in strength, it is quite brittle. The lack of other alloying elements outside of iron and carbon make it a relatively affordable ferrous metal. Common applications of cast iron include cookware, small components subject to wear such as gears, rods, and pins, and mining equipment.

Alloy Steel

Alloy steels are a type of ferrous metal specially formulated to serve specific purposes. While composed primarily of iron, differing amounts of copper, vanadium, tungsten, manganese, and other elements can be used to tailor an alloy steel to have higher toughness, ductility, tensile strength, hardness, and other properties. Common applications of alloy steels include tools, dies, and machining equipment.

Garden Soil Inoculant: What It Is and Why You Need It

About 78% of our atmosphere is made up of nitrogen. It's in the air we breathe and is necessary for plants (and humans) to survive. So how do you help your plants get all the nitrogen they need to thrive? The answer is garden soil inoculant. By inoculating your legume plants, you help to add nitrogen to your soil, which in turn lets the rest of your garden get the nitrogen it needs.

Nitrogen is a gas that occurs naturally in our atmosphere. It's one of the big three nutrients that plants need to survive, the others being phosphorus and potassium. Plants need nitrogen to grow because it helps them perform photosynthesis, which is the process that gives the plant its food – and in turn, our food.

Plants can't absorb nitrogen from the air; they need it to be in the soil to access it. That's where inoculation comes in. Inoculation helps certain plants, namely legumes, to fix nitrogen in the ground where it can be accessed more readily.

I will admit to taking my peas and beans for granted. I put the seeds in the ground, and a short while later I'm enjoying delicious legume-based meals. After harvesting, I put the plants in the compost pile to start the process over again next year. I didn't realize that I was missing an important step by leaving out a garden inoculant. If you aren't using an inoculant, you're not doing everything you can to make your plants happy.

What Is Silicon Slag Used For

Silicon slag is a solid residue after alumina extraction by fly ash sintering. The mainstream silicon slag is ferrosilicon slag and silicon metal slag in the market because of main content containing silicon. At present, silicon slag can be used not only for deoxidation in the steel making industry, but also in cement, concrete, calcium silicate board and permeable brick industry. However, due to high alkali content, silicon slag applications are quite limited in the building materials industry. The what is silicon slag used for? Today, we will enjoy knowledge about silicon slag applications for our customers.

Silicon slag as one of ferro alloy can be desulfurized effectively and the effect is satisfactory. Silicon slag is also a hot sale product in the field of deoxidation. Because of low price and containing silicon element, steel manufacturers are more inclined to silicon slag products when they purchase ferro alloy raw material for steel making. The silicon slag is excellent in desulfurization, the main reason is that the silicon slag contains a large amount of basic oxides, which can react with sulfur dioxide to form sulfates and the slurry can be used for flue gas desulfurization. So what is the desulfurization effect of silicon slag? Experiments show that the desulphurization effect of silicon slag can be as high as 100%. And the duration of 100% desulfurization efficiency is longer than that of limestone slurry under the same conditions. Using silicon slag for flue gas desulfurization not only reduces the emission of sulfur dioxide in the flue gas, but also reduces the alkali pollution during the stacking process of silicon slag. This provides a new idea for the comprehensive utilization of silicon slag.

Silicon slag can be used not only for desulfurization but also for good deoxidation in practical use. Compared to expensive desulfurization and deoxidization, silicon slag is cheap as ferro alloy products with strong advantages. Therefore, more and more manufacturers prefer to use silicon slag as the smelting materials for desulfurization during applications as well as satisfied effect. Anyang Huatuo Metallurgy, as silicon slag supplier, is a professional manufacturer of ferro alloy and metallurgical materials with professional facilities for production of ferro alloys products.

Deoxidizing Aluminum as a Pretreatment

Due to properties like strength, lightweight, and resistance to corrosion, aluminum alloys are being mostly used in the aerospace industry. To increase the life of the spacecraft, good quality surface treatment is required for the custom aluminum parts. Surface treatment of aluminum is imperative to improve the properties of the aluminum like hardness, resistance to wear tear, and decorative properties i.e physical appearance. Cleaning, polishing, painting, plating, and heat treatment are some typical examples of surface treatment processes.

When aluminum comes in contact with the surrounding oxygen, it can create a very thin layer of aluminum oxides. This unwanted layer of oxides may affect the surface treatment process like anodizing or electroplating. This aluminum oxides layer must be removed before surface treatment processes for better surface properties. This removal of the layer is known as the de-oxidation of aluminum. During the de-oxidation process, aluminum oxides are removed from the surface to improve the efficiency of surface treatment processes. These oxides cannot be removed by ordinary mineral acids so they are removed by oxidation-reduction (redox) reactions by the use of nitric, sulfuric, or chromic acids based solutions.

Types of Deoxidizers

There are different possible ways to prepare a solution that will meet your requirement of preparing surfaces for treatment processes. This can be accomplished by preparing a solution of a strong acid and any other suitable chemical agent. The solutions based on nitric, sulfuric, or chromic acids are most commonly used for the deoxidation of aluminum. The nitric acid and sulfuric acid-based solutions are interchangeably used as deoxidizers. As nitric acid is most commonly used so in this article nitric acid-based solutions are discussed in detail.

Nitric acid can act as an autocatalytic and also slowly attack aluminum. Because of these abilities, nitric acid-based deoxidizers are most commonly used. The metals which are rich in magnesium cannot be treated efficiently with caustic etching or with other surface treatment processes. In those cases, the nitric acid-based solution is preferred because they are more effective deoxidizers in the case of magnesium. The oxidizers containing nitric acid produce the finishes of satin type. It does not remove the shine from the finished metal part and also helps in making the old parts serviceable by improving their surface finish. Nitric acid opens the pore structure which makes the anodizing process easier. After processes like painting, anodizing, or any other surface treatment, oxidizers based on nitric acid can be used. For example, the solution of 15-20% nitric acid, 60-70% ferric sulfate, and ammonium bifluoride can be used to remove the layer of aluminum oxide, before any surface treatment process. As these solutions are chromium-free, they are environment-friendly. Furthermore, no fume exhaust is required in this case. The 316 Stainless Steel or Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVFD) liner is used to make the tanks for this type of deoxidation.

What Does Curing Agent Mean?

A curing agent is a substance that is used to harden a surface or material. It is typically applied to polymer surfaces to facilitate the bonding of the molecular components of the material. The stronger the molecular bonds are, the harder the material surface is.

There are three types of curing agents, namely: curing agents that react with the surface upon which they are applied to facilitate hardening; catalytic agents that do not react with the material surface; and initiator agents that only begin the necessary hardening reactions but do not continue to react with the system.