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WHAT'S AN ALLOY AND WHAT DO YOU USE IT FOR

WHAT IS AN ALLOY? AND WHAT DO YOU USE IT FOR?

EMILY [last name deleted for privacy by Editor]
- TOTNES, DEVON, ENGLAND
2002

An alloy is a mixture of two or more metals. The most common ones are brass (copper and zinc), bronze (copper and tin), solder (lead and tin with perhaps silver or other metals). There is also, of course stainless steel. these alloys are used for a wide range of things and generally the alloy offers better corrosion resistance than the individual metals. Technically an alloy is a solid solution of one metal in another. However, sometimes the metals form compounds and these are called intermetallic compounds, but this is quite a complex subject and it could take a long time to explain the implications of this.

Trevor Crichton
R&D practical scientist
Chesham, Bucks, UK
2002

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