The majority of products produced require some form of metal component to serve as a support, cage, structure, or enclosure. The capacity of metals to be shaped, configured, or formed to meet any type of application has made them an essential part of modern production. The production and manufacturing of metal products depends on the coordinated efforts of metal suppliers and manufacturers who work together to make raw materials available.
When discussing metals, it is difficult to pin it down to a single type or kind since most metals are alloyed to increase their resilience, stability, and strength. It is seldom that pure metal is used in the production of a product. For this reason, suppliers and manufacturers are constantly looking for ways to improve their products with better quality materials.
With the understanding that all metals are some form of alloy, it is important to know what an alloy is. In extremely simple terms, an alloy is a blending of metals to accentuate their positive characteristics and suppress their poorer qualities. It is the alloying process that adds durability to many of the products we use. The purpose for creating alloys is to make metals harder, resistant to corrosion, more malleable, increase their temperature tolerance, or give them characteristics that make them more flexible for manufacturing processes.
One of the more common alloys is aluminum, a naturally occurring soft metal, that has the ability to be formed and shaped to serve a multitude of purposes when alloyed with stronger metals. Homes, machines, buildings, and vehicles have some form of aluminum component whether it is roofing material, window frames, doors, or a decorative item. Designers look to aluminum as the metal they can use to fit any application. The most common use that many of us know regarding aluminum is aluminum cans, which are easily recyclable.
Since aluminum can be transformed into any shape, it is widely used in the extrusion industry as a very dependable and reliable metal. The main reason that extrusion companies rely on aluminum is its high strength-to-weight ratio as well as its cost effectiveness. A benefit of aluminum is its ability to be used in shaping a variety of profiles from pipes and tubes to lighting fixtures and automobile trim.
Though aluminum has an excellent appearance, copper is another soft metal that has a wide variety of applications, which are increased by being alloyed with tin or zinc to form bronze or brass. Copper and its alloys, bronze and brass, are popular for their aesthetic appearance and resistance to rust and corrosion. They are excellent materials for the production of wire because of their soft texture, exceptional conductivity, and ability to be easily drawn through an extruder. Copper is highly valued as a material for producing piping.
Of the many manufacturing alloys, stainless steel is the most widely used to produce any number of products. Since it was first discovered in 1913, stainless steel has grown to become a central part of nearly every industry that depends on metal to produce its products. Airplanes, automobiles, cookware, construction, and many other industries rely on stainless steel for its rust and corrosion resistance as well as its strength and durability.
Though alloys are the more common forms of metals, a natural metal, nickel, is also very popular for its unique properties. Nickel is a naturally occurring element that is found in nature combined with iron. It is valued for its many properties, which include malleability, ductility, heat resistance, durability, ferromagnetism, and rust and corrosion resistance. Nickel can easily be alloyed with many other metals such as chromium, iron, and copper to enhance its natural characteristics and properties.
Other naturally occurring metals are titanium and tungsten that have similar properties as nickel. When alloyed with steel, iron, or aluminum, tungsten and titanium natural characteristics increase, which makes them more resilient. Much like stainless steel, tungsten and titanium have a wide variety of uses from making jewelry to being essential components for space craft.
The nature and qualities of metals and metal alloys has produced a variety of products from heavy duty industrial magnets to coated and treated construction materials. The ability to transform metals to fit any application is the reason that they are so essential to manufacturing.
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