What is Alloy? What are the Classification of Alloy with Examples?

Last Updated on August 5, 2019 by Roshan Parihar

Learn all about what is alloy and the classification of the alloy. The examples of some useful alloy with the composition and uses in the real world.

What is Alloy?

An alloy is a combination of one or more elements or metals melted together to result out a liquid which is allowed to solidify and produce a product called alloy.

An alloy is a combination of the below given mixture:-

• A metal with another metal.
• Metal with the non-metal.
• and metal with metal and non-metal

Why We Create Alloys?

We create alloy because metal as a raw material is not suitable to certain applications to use. A metal may be soft to create other human useful products.

Alloys are the hardest materials as compared to the metals. We can also say that an alloy is a metal. Alloys are more stronger than the raw metals.They are more resistible and have good magnetic properties as compared to the simple metal.

In addition to this, the melting point of the alloy is lower than the melting point of the pure metals. However, the electrical conductivity of the alloy is lower as compared the pure metals like copper, aluminium.

What is alloy Classification?

Alloys are classified into two different types. These are listed below..

• Ferrous Alloy
• Non-ferrous Alloy

Ferrous Alloy:– A ferrous alloy is the alloy that contains the iron, carbon and the other elements like manganese, nickel, chromium, copper, vanadium, molybdenum, tungsten, etc.

Non-ferrous Alloy:– A non-ferrous alloy is the alloy that contains no iron in combination of mixture.

If the percentage of the carbon in the alloy is below 0.1, the formed alloy is the iron alloy. If it is above 0.1, the formed alloys are called steels.

Some Important Alloys with composition and uses.

Below are some important alloys already created for our useful equipments and materials. Some metals are hardest some are good in electrical conductivity. Check these alloys and the metals used to create these alloy.

Name of Alloy	Alloy Composition	Uses of Alloy
Brass	Copper(Cu): 60-80% Zinc(Zn): 20-40%	Utensils Condenser Tubes Electrical Goods Cartridge shell
Bronze	Copper(Cu): 75-90% Tin(Sn): 10-25%	Coins Statues Utensils
German Silver	Copper(Cu): 56% Zinc(Zn): 24%	Coins Statues Utensils
Gun Metal	Copper(Cu): 56% Tin(Sn): 24%	Machine Parts guns
Rolled gold	Copper(Cu): 95% Aluminium(Al): 5%	Artificial jewelry
Magnalium	Aluminium(Al): 94% Magnesium(Mg): 6%	Balance beams Light instruments
Electron	Magnersium(Mg): 95% Zinc(Zn): 5%	Consruction of Aircraft
Duralumin	Aluminium(Al): 95% Copper(Cu): 4% Manganese(Mn): 0.5% Magnesium(Mg): 0.5%	Making Aeroplanes
Solder	Lead(Pb): 50-70% Tin(Sn): 30-50%	Soldering Machine
Britannia	Tin(Sn): 93% Antimony(Sb): 5% Copper(Cu): 2%	Use in making Tableware
Wood’s metal	Bi: 50% Lead(Pb): 25% Tin(Sn): 12.5% Cadmium(Cd): 12.5%	Use in Electric fuses and other safety devices
Nichrome	Nickel(Ni): 60% Chromium(Cr): 15% Iron(Fe): 25%	Electrical resistances
Constantan	Nickel(Ni): 40% Copper(Cu): 60%	Electrical resistances
Monel Metal	Nickel(Ni): 70% Copper(Cu): 30%	Chemical plants
Stainless steel	Iron(Fe): 89.4% Chromium(Cr): 10% Manganese(Mn): 0.35% Carbon(Cr): 0.25%	Utensils Ornamental pieces