Non Ferrous Metals
Non-ferrous metals or alloys are defined as materials that are not iron-based like their ferrous counterparts. Common non-ferrous metals include copper, aluminium and lead.
Ferrous metals contain iron making most of these metals have a magnetic property. Non-ferrous metals are found in the Earth as chemical compounds. The most essential non-ferrous metals happen to be oxides or sulfides.
There are a large number of non-ferrous materials, covering every metal and alloy that does not contain iron. Non-ferrous metals include aluminium, copper Non Ferrous Metals lead, nickel, tin, titanium and zinc, as well as copper alloys like brass and bronze. Other rare or precious non-ferrous metals include gold, silver and platinum, cobalt, mercury, tungsten, beryllium, bismuth, cerium, cadmium, niobium, indium, gallium, germanium, lithium, selenium, tantalum, tellurium, vanadium, and zirconium.
The difference between ferrous and non-ferrous metals is that ferrous metals contain iron. Ferrous metals, such as cast irons or carbon steel, have a high carbon content, which generally makes them vulnerable to rust when exposed to moisture. However, this is not the case for wrought iron, which resists rust due to its purity, and stainless steel, which is protected from corrosion by the presence of chromium.
It is nearly impossible to define the common properties of non-ferrous metals simply because there is such a large variety of metals that fall into the non-ferrous category. Some non-ferrous metals are hard and brittle, some soft and ductile. Some non-ferrous metals are made for cryogenic applications, others are made to withstand extremely high temperatures. There are far more differences than there are similarities among the different types of non-ferrous metals.
However Non Ferrous Metals all do have one thing in common: They do not rust. That is not to say that they don’t corrode. Several non-ferrous materials can be quite vulnerable to corrosion. When it is said that they don’t rust, that means they will never form the red flaky metal that is ubiquitous among pieces of steel and iron that are not protected from corrosive environments. That is because rust is iron oxide. Since non-ferrous alloys have no significant amount of iron, no iron is available to form iron oxide, and therefore no rust formation can occur. Another characteristic of non-ferrous metals is that they are not magnetic.