Browse Items (306 total)

Nickel silver does not actually contain silver but is a ternary alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc. The name arises from its attractive silver appearance.

Source:
"Nickel silver", Granta CES Edupack 2018, accessed June 2020

Plaster of Paris is exactly that - a plaster that, originally, came from Paris, France. It is made by calcining the mineral gypsum, CaSO4.2H2O, at about 180°C, driving off water to give the anhydrite 2CaSO4.H2O. When mixed with water it rehydrates…

Tungsten is remarkable for its melting point of 3410 C when pure. This is a problem if you want to process it, but an attraction if you want to use it at high temperatures. Processing is solved by using powder methods -- the same methods used to…

Zirconia, ZrO2, is a ceramic with an exceptionally high melting point -- 2760 C when pure. It has the highest useful strength and toughness at room temperature of all the readily available ceramics. It is used (with 5% CaO) as a firebrick, and, in…

Calcium carbonate is a common substance found in things like shells, rocks, pearls, and shells. Its most common natural forms are chalk, limestone, and marble, produced by the sedimentation of the shells of small fossilized snails, shellfish, and…

Lead, when pure, is very soft and, with it low melting point (327 C) it creeps, even at room temperature -- old lead pipes acquire a sag between fixing points over time. There are two broad classes of alloys base on lead. The first, typified by the…

Tin (symbol Sn) has been know to man since at least 3500 BC. The discovery that copper alloyed with tin to give bronze, greatly improving the mechanical properties, launched the Bronze age. In 1800 Napoleon offered prize of 12,000 francs for a…

Soda lime glass is the glass of windows, bottles and light bulbs, used in vast quantities, the commonest of them all. The name suggests its composition - 13-17% NaO (the "soda"), 5-10% CaO (the "lime") and 70-75% SiO2 (the "glass"). It has a low…

With a name like "superalloy" there has to be something special here. There is. Superalloy is a name applied to nickel-based, iron-based and cobalt-based alloys that combine exceptional high-temperature strength with excellent corrosion and…

Lay-up and filament winding methods of shaping composites are far too slow and labor-intensive to compete with steel pressings for car body panels and other enclosures. Sheet molding compounds (SMCs) and dough (or bulk) molding compounds (DMCs or…