Metallurgy

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(Redirected from Physical metallurgy)

Georgius Agricola, author of De re metallica, an important early work on metal extraction

Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical
behavior of metallicelements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are
called alloys. Metallurgy is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to the
production of metals, and the engineering of metal components for usage in products for consumers
and manufacturers. The production of metals involves the processing of ores to extract the metal
they contain, and the mixture of metals, sometimes with other elements, to produce alloys.
Metallurgy is distinguished from the craft of metalworking, although metalworking relies on
metallurgy, as medicine relies on medical science, for technical advancement.
Metallurgy is subdivided into ferrous metallurgy (sometimes also known as black metallurgy)
and non-ferrous metallurgy orcolored metallurgy. Ferrous metallurgy involves processes and alloys
based on iron while non-ferrous metallurgy involves processes and alloys based on other metals.
The production of ferrous metals accounts for 95 percent of world metal production. [1]
Contents
[hide]

1Etymology and pronunciation

2History

3Extraction

4Alloys

5Production
o

5.1Metalworking processes

5.2Heat treatment

5.3Plating

5.4Thermal spraying

6Microstructure

7See also

8References

9External links

Etymology and pronunciation[edit]

The roots of metallurgy derive from Ancient Greek: , metallourgs, "worker in metal",
from , mtallon, "metal" + , rgon, "work".
The word was originally an alchemist's term for the extraction of metals from minerals, the ending urgy signifying a process, especially manufacturing: it was discussed in this sense in the
1797 Encyclopaedia Britannica.[2] In the late 19th century it was extended to the more general
scientific study of metals, alloys, and related processes.[2]
In English, the /metldi/ pronunciation is the more common one in the UK and Commonwealth.
The /metlrdi/ pronunciation is the more common one in the USA, and is the first-listed variant in
various American dictionaries (e.g., Merriam-Webster Collegiate, American Heritage).

History[edit]

Gold headband from Thebes 750700 BC

See also: Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, History of ferrous metallurgy, Metallurgy in pre-Columbian
America, Metallurgy in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, History of metallurgy in the Indian
subcontinent and Non-ferrous extractive metallurgy
The earliest recorded metal employed by humans appears to be gold which can be found free or
"native." Small amounts of natural gold have been found in Spanish caves used during the
late Paleolithic period, c. 40,000 BC.[3] Silver, copper, tin and meteoric iron can also be found in
native form, allowing a limited amount of metalworking in early cultures.[4] Egyptian weapons made
from meteoric iron in about 3000 BC were highly prized as "daggers from heaven."[5]

Certain metals, notably tin, lead and (at a higher temperature) copper, can be recovered from their
ores by simply heating the rocks in a fire, a process known as smelting. The first evidence of this
extractive metallurgy dates from the 5th and 6th millennium BC[6] and was found in the
archaeological sites of Majdanpek, Yarmovac and Plocnik, all three in Serbia. To date, the earliest
evidence of copper smelting is found at the Belovode site,[7] including a copper axe from 5500 BC
belonging to the Vina culture.[8] Other signs of early metals are found from the third millennium BC
in places like Palmela (Portugal), Los Millares (Spain), and Stonehenge (United Kingdom). However,
the ultimate beginnings cannot be clearly ascertained and new discoveries are both continuous and
ongoing.

Mining areas of the ancient Middle East. Boxes colors: arsenic is in brown,copper in red, tin in grey, iron in
reddish brown, gold in yellow, silver in white and lead in black. Yellow area stands for arsenic bronze, while
grey area stands for tin bronze.

These first metals were single ones or as found. About 3500 BC, it was discovered that by
combining copper and tin, a superior metal could be made, an alloy called bronze, representing a
major technological shift known as the Bronze Age.
The extraction of iron from its ore into a workable metal is much more difficult than for copper or tin.
The process appears to have been invented by the Hittites in about 1200 BC, beginning the Iron
Age. The secret of extracting and working iron was a key factor in the success of the Philistines.[5][9]
Historical developments in ferrous metallurgy can be found in a wide variety of past cultures and
civilizations. This includes the ancient and medieval kingdoms and empires of the Middle
East and Near East, ancient Iran, ancient Egypt, ancientNubia, and Anatolia (Turkey), Ancient
Nok, Carthage, the Greeks and Romans of ancient Europe, medieval Europe, ancient and
medieval China, ancient and medieval India, ancient and medieval Japan, amongst others. Many
applications, practices, and devices associated or involved in metallurgy were established in ancient
China, such as the innovation of the blast furnace, cast iron, hydraulic-powered trip hammers, and
double acting piston bellows.[10][11]
A 16th century book by Georg Agricola called De re metallica describes the highly developed and
complex processes of mining metal ores, metal extraction and metallurgy of the time. Agricola has
been described as the "father of metallurgy".[12]

Extraction[edit]

Furnace bellows operated bywaterwheels, Yuan Dynasty, China.

Aluminium plant in iar nad Hronom(Central Slovakia)

Main article: Extractive metallurgy

Extractive metallurgy is the practice of removing valuable metals from an ore and refining the
extracted raw metals into a purer form. In order to convert a metal oxide or sulfide to a purer metal,
the ore must be reduced physically, chemically, orelectrolytically.
Extractive metallurgists are interested in three primary streams: feed, concentrate (valuable metal
oxide/sulfide), and tailings(waste). After mining, large pieces of the ore feed are broken through
crushing and/or grinding in order to obtain particles small enough where each particle is either
mostly valuable or mostly waste. Concentrating the particles of value in a form supporting separation
enables the desired metal to be removed from waste products.
Mining may not be necessary if the ore body and physical environment are conducive to leaching.
Leaching dissolves minerals in an ore body and results in an enriched solution. The solution is
collected and processed to extract valuable metals.
Ore bodies often contain more than one valuable metal. Tailings of a previous process may be used
as a feed in another process to extract a secondary product from the original ore. Additionally, a
concentrate may contain more than one valuable metal. That concentrate would then be processed
to separate the valuable metals into individual constituents.

Alloys[edit]

Casting bronze

Common
engineering metals include aluminium, chromium, copper, iron, magnesium, nickel, titanium and zinc
. These are most often used as alloys. Much effort has been placed on understanding the ironcarbon alloy system, which includessteels and cast irons. Plain carbon steels (those that contain
essentially only carbon as an alloying element) are used in low-cost, high-strength applications

where weight and corrosion are not a problem. Cast irons, including ductile iron, are also part of the
iron-carbon system.
Stainless steel or galvanized steel are used where resistance to corrosion is important. Aluminium
alloys and magnesium alloys are used for applications where strength and lightness are required.
Copper-nickel alloys (such as Monel) are used in highly corrosive environments and for nonmagnetic applications. Nickel-based superalloys like Inconel are used in high-temperature
applications such as gas turbines, turbochargers, pressure vessels, and heat exchangers. For
extremely high temperatures, single crystal alloys are used to minimize creep.

Production[edit]
In production engineering, metallurgy is concerned with the production of metallic components for
use in consumer orengineering products. This involves the production of alloys, the shaping, the
heat treatment and the surface treatment of the product. The task of the metallurgist is to achieve
balance between material properties such as
cost, weight, strength, toughness, hardness, corrosion, fatigue resistance, and performance
in temperatureextremes. To achieve this goal, the operating environment must be carefully
considered. In a saltwater environment, ferrous metals and some aluminium alloys corrode quickly.
Metals exposed to cold or cryogenic conditions may endure a ductile to brittle transition and lose
their toughness, becoming more brittle and prone to cracking. Metals under continual cyclic loading
can suffer from metal fatigue. Metals under constant stress at elevated temperatures can creep.

Metalworking processes[edit]
Main article: Metalworking
Metals are shaped by processes such as:

casting molten metal is poured into a shaped mold.

forging a red-hot billet is hammered into shape.

rolling a billet is passed through successively narrower rollers to

create a sheet.

laser cladding metallic powder is blown through a movable laser

beam (e.g. mounted on a NC 5-axis machine). The resulting melted
metal reaches a substrate to form a melt pool. By moving the laser
head, it is possible to stack the tracks and build up a threedimensional piece.

extrusion a hot and malleable metal is forced under pressure

through a die, which shapes it before it cools.

sintering a powdered metal is heated in a non-oxidizing

environment after being compressed into a die.

machining lathes, milling machines, and drills cut the cold metal to
shape.

fabrication sheets of metal are cut with guillotines or gas

cutters and bent and welded into structural shape.

Cold-working processes, in which the products shape is altered by rolling, fabrication or other
processes while the product is cold, can increase the strength of the product by a process
called work hardening. Work hardening creates microscopic defects in the metal, which resist further
changes of shape.
Various forms of casting exist in industry and academia. These include sand casting, investment
casting (also called the "lost wax process"), die casting, andcontinuous casting.

Heat treatment[edit]
Metals can be heat-treated to alter the properties of strength, ductility, toughness, hardness and/or
resistance to corrosion. Common heat treatment processes include annealing, precipitation
strengthening, quenching, and tempering.[13] The annealing process softens the metal by heating it
and then allowing it to cool very slowly, which gets rid of stresses in the metal and makes the grain
structure large and soft-edged so that when the metal is hit or stressed it dents or perhaps bends,
rather than breaking; it is also easier to sand, grind, or cut annealed metal. Quenching is the
process of cooling a high-carbon steel very quickly after heating, thus "freezing" the steel's
molecules in the very hard martensite form, which makes the metal harder. There is a balance
between hardness and toughness in any steel; the harder the steel, the less tough or impactresistant it is, and the more impact-resistant it is, the less hard it is. Tempering relieves stresses in
the metal that were caused by the hardening process; tempering makes the metal less hard while
making it better able to sustain impacts without breaking.
Often, mechanical and thermal treatments are combined in what are known as thermo-mechanical
treatments for better properties and more efficient processing of materials. These processes are
common to high-alloy special steels, superalloys and titanium alloys.

Plating[edit]
Main article: Plating
Electroplating is a chemical surface-treatment technique. It involves bonding a thin layer of another
metal such as gold, silver, chromium or zinc to the surface of the product. It is used to reduce
corrosion as well as to improve the product's aesthetic appearance.

Thermal spraying[edit]
Main article: Thermal spraying
Thermal spraying techniques are another popular finishing option, and often have better high
temperature properties than electroplated coatings.

Microstructure[edit]

Metallography allows the metallurgist to study the microstructure of metals.

Metallurgists study the microscopic and macroscopic properties using metallography, a technique
invented by Henry Clifton Sorby. In metallography, an alloy of interest is ground flat and polished to a

mirror finish. The sample can then be etched to reveal the microstructure and macrostructure of the
metal. The sample is then examined in an optical or electron microscope, and the image contrast
provides details on the composition, mechanical properties, and processing history.
Crystallography, often using diffraction of x-rays or electrons, is another valuable tool available to the
modern metallurgist. Crystallography allows identification of unknown materials and reveals the
crystal structure of the sample. Quantitative crystallography can be used to calculate the amount of
phases present as well as the degree of strain to which a sample has been subjected.

See also[edit]

Archaeometallurgy

CALPHAD

Carbonyl metallurgy

Cupellation

Experimental archaeometallurgy

Georg Agricola

Goldbeating

Gold phosphine complex

Metallurgical failure analysis

Mineral industry

Pyrometallurgy

References[edit]
1.

Jump up^ "". in The Great Soviet Encyclopedia. 1979.

2.

^ Jump up to:a b Oxford English Dictionary, accessed 29 January 2011

3.

Jump up^ "History of Gold". Gold Digest. Retrieved 2007-02-04.

4.

Jump up^ E. Photos, E. (2010). "The Question of Meteoritic versus

Smelted Nickel-Rich Iron: Archaeological Evidence and Experimental
Results" (PDF). World Archaeology 20 (3):
403. doi:10.1080/00438243.1989.9980081.JSTOR 124562.

5.

^ Jump up to:a b W. Keller (1963) The Bible as History. p. 156. ISBN 0340-00312-X

6.

Jump up^ H.I. Haiko, V.S. Biletskyi. First metals discovery and
development the sacral component phenomenon. // Theoretical and
Practical Solutions of Mineral Resources Mining // A Balkema Book,
London, 2015, . 227-233..

7.

Jump up^ Radivojevi, Miljana; Rehren, Thilo; Pernicka, Ernst;

ljivar, Duan; Brauns, Michael; Bori, Duan (2010). "On the origins
of extractive metallurgy: New evidence from Europe". Journal of
Archaeological Science 37 (11): 2775.doi:10.1016/j.jas.2010.06.012.

8.

Jump up^ Neolithic Vinca was a metallurgical culture Stonepages

from news sources November 2007

9.

Jump up^ B. W. Anderson (1975) The Living World of the Old

Testament, p. 154, ISBN 0-582-48598-3

10. Jump up^ R. F. Tylecote (1992) A History of Metallurgy ISBN 0901462-88-8

11. Jump up^ Robert K.G. Temple (2007). The Genius of China: 3,000
Years of Science, Discovery, and Invention (3rd edition).
London: Andr Deutsch. pp. 4456. ISBN 978-0-233-00202-6.
12. Jump up^ Karl Alfred von Zittel (1901). History of Geology and
Palaeontology. p. 15.doi:10.5962/bhl.title.33301.
13. Jump up^ Arthur Reardon (2011), Metallurgy for the NonMetallurgist (2nd edition), ASM International, ISBN 978-1-61503-821-3

External links[edit]
Wikisource has the text of the
1879 American
Cyclopdiaarticle Metallurgy.

Media related to Metallurgy at Wikimedia Commons

Learning materials related to Topic:Metallurgical engineering at
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