Metal Price

The properties of metal

Properties of metal in a solid form are the following:

– It is a very good electrical conductor. This conduction decreases in higher temperatures.
– It can also conduct heat very well
– It can be shaped well
– Metal shines

The properties of metal can be divided into physical and mechanical properties.

The production of metal

Metal usually is not found in nature in its pure form. When metal is found in its pure form we call it decent metal.

These metals are nine out of ten times cut out of quartz. This quartz is transfered in the metal processes. As an example we can think about yielding cast iron from iron quartz using blast furnaces.

The applications of metal

Metal has a lot of applications and can be seen as a higly versatile metal. Several applications we can mention for you are:

– Packaging material for, for example, conservatives like cans for paints and liquor. Usually zinc is used for this
– An electrical connection. Usually copper, gold or silver is used for this
– As mercury in thermometers and barometers.
– As a manget on doors and more. For this cobalt, neodymium, nickle or iron are used
– As pigment. Usually cadmium, mercury or lead are used
– As balancing weight in a ship or counterweight attached to tractors for example. For this uranium, lead or wolfram is used
– As a projectile or blunt force weapon. A lot of lead, wolfram, uranium or copper is used
– Creating chemical catalysts. For this they used rhodium, palladium or rothenium
– Creating artifacts where gold, silver, copper or tin is used
– As investment or currency. For this nickle, copper, silver or gold is mostly  used
– As a medical or healing products like platina, technetium or lithium
– But also poison like thallium and arsenic
– By using as transport, machines or in construction. Magnesium, zinc, steel or aluminum are mostly used here

Non-ferrometal or ferro metal

In the trade of metals there is a difference made between two kinds of metal, those are the non-ferro metals and the ferro metals.

Ferro metals are iron and all alloys that are made based off of iron. Steel being the most known one of this group.

All other metals, like copper, gold, aluminum and such are named as the non-ferro metals.

Precious and non precious metals

Precious metals are metals that do not, or very little, get affected by oxidization. This is the process where oxygen gets mixed with the metal and it corrodes. Thsi is the reason why precious metals are often used in jewelry.

Platina, silver, gold, rhodium, osmium, iridium and ruthenium are, among others, part of the precious metal group.

Non precious metals oxidize very easily. You can think about things like messing, tombac, copper, bronze, aluminum, zinc, mercury, iron, nickle and many more other metals.

There are also a third group of metals that are half precious. These metals appear sometimes as elements in the nature, but they can also be transferred to ionic form very easily as well.

Copper, nickel, cobalt, zinc, cadmium and lead are just a few examples of half precious metals. If you want these metals to be in a solution, then you need to use a very strong oxidizer that is very acidic.

Metal technique or metal processing

Processing metals is called the metal technique or metal processing. In this technique, large structures, assemblies or individual parts are created.

You can think about engine parts, but also jewelry, bridges, ships, cars, you name it.

To be able to process metal and shape it, you can use different tools. This all depends on the type of processing that you will be doing to the metal.

It also matters if it is a scientific, artsy, trade or hobby applications is that you use to process the metal with. Processing metal was founded in the bronze age.

By melting certain quartz, they found out that you can use a hammer to hit the formable metal in such a way that you could make jewelry or other tools out of it.

In the modern metal processing, you can divide the tasks in 3 different categories. These different processes have to do with the way they are done and what they are eventually used for.

Final words

Metal is a very versatile material if we talk about it and it is very hard to explain what it actually is, because it is mostly an element where you talk about the chemical reaction of the metals.

But it has been in existence for many years and in general it is used to describe all sorts of things. The group of metals is extremely big and extensive.

It is even so big, that it is impossible to name them all one by one and tell you which chemical reactions and applications all the metals have.

Metal is becoming more and more rare, because of the demand increase but the supply dropping every year. Metals are being used in many products.

Think about certain parts that you have in your phone that even have metals in them. It will astonish you to see how many products there are that have some metal parts in them.