Alloy
An alloy is a combination, either in solution or compound, of two or
more elements, which has a combination of at least one metal, and
where the resultant material has metallic properties. An alloy with
two components is called a binary alloy; one with three is a ternary
alloy; one with four is a quaternary alloy. The result is a metallic
substance with properties different from those of its components.
Alloys are usually designed to have properties that are more desirable
than those of their components. For instance, steel is stronger than
iron, one of its main elements, and brass is more durable than copper,
but more attractive than zinc.
Unlike pure metals, many alloys do not have a single melting point.
Instead, they have a melting range in which the material is a mixture
of solid and liquid phases. The temperature at which melting begins is
called the solidus, and that at which melting is complete is called
the liquidus. Special alloys can be designed with a single melting
point, however, and these are called eutectic mixtures.
Sometimes an alloy is just named for the base metal, as 14 karat (58%)
gold is an alloy of gold with other elements. The same holds for
silver used in jewellery, and aluminium used structurally.
The term "alloy" is frequently used in everyday speech as an
alternative to "aluminium alloy", which many engineers find offensive,
since all steels and most other engineering metals are also alloys. A
typical example of such usage is "alloy wheels" fitted to an automobile.



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