are alloys used more for heavy duty work than metals?

Question

because metals (that are commercially pure) are much weaker than alloys, is it true that alloys are used more for heavy duty work? could you give some details or examples of uses for alloys and metals?

Answer 1

well i gave you the gold example in your other question, but i can give a few more.

Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, making steel much stronger than iron alone. Imagine the world without steel and i think you can come up with alot of uses for it.

Bronze is an alloy of copper, usually made with tin. the Bronze Age came about specifically because the Bronze tools WERE much stronger than anything previously made with copper.

There are also superalloys, which are used in things like jet engines, rockets, etc. These are usually based on nickel, and include other metals such as chromium, aluminum, titanium, molybdenum, tungsten, niobium, tantalum and cobalt. When alloyed these superalloys are incredibly strong.

Answer 2

Stainless steel is iron, and nickel and maybe some other things. It is popular because of it's rust resistance (and strong). Brass, and bronze are mostly copper, and I think nickel. But this is done for color, and wear resistance. Some alloys are made to make metals flexible, like springs. Some alloys lower melting points , as in some solders. Alloy is important, but also heat treating, too.

Answer 3

An alloy is a combination, either in solution or compound, of two or more elements, at least one of which is a metal, and where the resulting material has metallic properties. The resulting metallic substance usually has different properties (sometimes significantly different) from those of its components

Alloys are usually prepared to improve on the properties of their components. For instance, Steel, is stronger than iron, its primary component. The physical properties of an alloy, such as density, reactivity and electrical and thermal conductivity may not differ greatly from the alloy's elements, but engineering properties, such as tensile strength, shear strength and Young's modulus, can be substantially different from those of the constituent materials. This is sometimes due to the differing sizes of the atoms in the alloy—larger atoms exert a compressive force on neighbouring atoms, and smaller atoms exert a tensile force on their neighbours. This helps the alloy resist deformation, unlike a pure metal where the atoms move more freely.

Unlike pure metals, most alloys do not have a single melting point. Instead, they have a melting range in which the material is a mixture of solid and liquid phases. The temperature at which melting begins is called the solidus, and that at which melting is complete is called the liquidus. However, for most pairs of elements, there is a particular ratio which has a single melting point; this is called the eutectic mixture.

For details of alloys of various elements you can refer :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_alloys

Answer 4

Yes, of course. There are other reason, too. For example, stainless steel is a combination of iron and carbon (the ingredients of regular steel) with nickel and chromium. Stainless steel does not rust. Other examples are brass (copper and zinc), solder (tin and lead)