METALS & NON-METALS

Common engineering materials are normally classified as metals and non-metals. Metals are polycrystalline
bodies consisting of a great number of fine crystals. Most metals are malleable (can be shaped with hammer),
ductile (can be drawn into a wire), and good conductors of both heat and electricity. However, pure metals
possess low strength and do not have the required properties. So, alloys are produced by melting or sintering
two or more metals or metals and a non-metal, together. Metals and alloys are further classified into two major
kind namely ferrous metals and non-ferrous metals.

FERROUS METALS:
Most common engineering materials are ferrous materials which are alloys of iron. Ferrous means iron.
Ferrous materials are usually stronger and harder and are used in daily life products. Ferrous metals possess
different physical properties according to their carbon content. The basic principal raw material for all ferrous
metals is pig iron which is obtained by smelting iron ore, coke and limestone, in the blast furnace from which
cast iron, wrought iron and steel can be produced. Iron ore may be defined as a solid naturally occurring
mineral aggregate, from which the iron is recovered by certain treatment. The principal iron ores with their
metallic contents are shown in Table 4.1.
Table 1: Types of Iron Ore
S. No. Iron ore Color Iron%
1 Magnetite (Fe2O3) Black 70-75%
2 Haematite (Fe3O4) Red 65-70%
3 Limonite (2Fe2O3.3H2O) Yellowish brown 60%
4 Pyrite (FeS3) Bronze yellow 45-47%
5 Siderite (FeCO3) Brownish black 40%

Pig Iron
The crude impure iron which is extracted from iron ores is known as pig iron. It is produced in a blast furnace
and is the first product in the process of converting iron ore into useful ferrous metal. The iron ore on initial
refining and heating in blast furnace becomes pig iron when the impurities are burnt out in a blast furnace. Pig
iron acts as the raw material for production of all kinds of cast iron and steel products. It is of great importance
in the foundry and in steel making processes. Pig iron is suitable for making columns, base plates, door
brackets, etc. In addition to iron, pig iron contains various other constituents in varying form of impurity such
carbon, silicon, sulphur, manganese and phosphorus etc.
It has the following approximate composition:
Carbon = 4 to 4.5%
Phosphorus = 0.1 to 2%
Silicon = 0.4 to 2%
Sulphur = 0.4 to 1%
Manganese = 0.2 to 1.5 %
Iron = Remainder

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Lecture notes prepared by Dr. Priyaranjan Pal
Metals may conveniently be divided into ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Important ferrous metals for the
present purpose are: (i) cast iron (ii) wrought iron (iii) steel.

1. Cast Iron
Cast iron is basically an alloy of iron and carbon and is obtained by re-melting pig iron with coke, limestone
and steel scrap in a furnace known as cupola. The carbon content in cast iron varies from 1.5% to 4.0%. It also
contains small amounts of silicon, manganese, phosphorus and sulphur in form of impurities elements. Carbon
in cast iron is present either in free state like graphite or in combined state as cementite. Cast iron contains so
much carbon that it is not malleable. One characteristic (except white cast iron) is that much of carbon content
is present in free form as graphite. Largely the properties of cast iron are determined by this fact.

Properties
 Cast iron is very brittle and weak in tension and therefore it cannot be used for making bolts and
machine parts which are liable to tension.
 Since the cast iron is a brittle material and therefore, it cannot be used in those parts of machines
which are subjected to shocks.
 It has low cost, good casting characteristics, high compressive strength, high wear resistance and
excellent machinability. These properties make it a valuable material for engineering purposes.
 Its tensile strength varies from 100 to 200 MPa, compressive strength from 400 to 1000 MPa and
shear strength is 120 MPa. The compressive strength of cast iron is much greater than the tensile
strength.
 Its melting temperature is about 12000C and it shrinks on cooling.

Melting point of cast iron is much lower than that of steel. Most of the castings produced in a cast iron
foundry are of grey cast iron. These are cheap and widely used. The characteristics of cast iron which make it
a valuable material for engineering applications are:
 Very good casting characteristics.
 Low cost
 High compressive strength
 Good wear resistance
 Excellent machinability

The main limitation of this metal is brittleness and low tensile strength and thus cannot be used in those
components subjected to shocks.

Applications
It is used for making cisterns, water pipes, gas pipes and sewers, manhole covers and sanitary fittings. It is
used for making ornamental castings such as brackets, gates, lamp posts, spiral staircases. It is used for
preparing rail chairs, carriage wheels. It is also used for manufacturing compression members like columns,
bases.

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Lecture notes prepared by Dr. Priyaranjan Pal
2. Wrought Iron
Wrought iron is assumed approximately as purest iron which possesses at least 99.5% iron. Thus total
impurities are limited to 0.5%. This iron is produced from pig iron by re-melting it in the puddling furnace or
air furnace. The molten metal free from impurities is removed from the furnace as a pasty mass of iron and
slag. This iron contains practically no carbon and therefore cannot be hardened. The composition range of
typical wrought iron includes:
Carbon = 0.02 – 0.03%
Phosphorous = 0.05 – 0.25%
Silocon = 0.02 – 0.10%
Sulphur = 0.008 – 0.02%
Manganese = 0.0 – 0.02%
Slag = 0.05 – 1.5%
Fe = Remainder

Properties
 The wrought iron can be easily shaped by hammering, pressing, forging, etc.
 It is never cast and it can be easily bent when cold.
 It is tough and it has high ductility and plasticity with which it can be forged and welded easily.
 Its ultimate strength can be increased considerably by cold working followed by a period of aging.
 It possesses a high resistance towards corrosion.
 It can accommodate sudden and excessive shocks loads without permanent injury.
 It has a high resistance towards fatigue. Its ultimate tensile strength varies from 250 to 500 MPa and
the ultimate compressive strength is about 300 MPa.
 It can be elongated considerably by cold working. It has high electrical conductivity.
 The melting point of wrought iron is about 1530°C. It has elongation 20% in 200 mm in longitudinal
direction and 2–5 % in transverse direction. Its poison’s ratio is 0.3. It can be easily formed when
cold, without the outer side cracking at the formed port.

Applications
It is used for making chains, crane hooks, railway couplings, and water and steam pipes. It has application in
the form of plates, sheets, bars, structural works, forging blooms and billets, rivets, and a wide range of
tubular products including pipe, tubing and casing, electrical conduit, cold drawn tubing, nipples and welding
fittings, bridge railings, blast plates, drainage lines and troughs, sewer outfall lines, weir plates, sludge tanks
and lines, condenser tubes, unfired heat exchangers, acid and alkali process lines, skimmer bars, diesel exhaust
and air brake piping, gas collection hoods, coal equipment, cooling tower and spray pond piping.

3. Steel
Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon with carbon content maximum up to 1.7%. The carbon occurs in the form
of iron carbide, because of its ability to increase the hardness and strength of the steel. Other elements e.g.

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Lecture notes prepared by Dr. Priyaranjan Pal
silicon, sulphur, phosphorus and manganese are also present to greater or lesser amount to import certain
desired properties to it. Most of the steel produced now-a-days is plain carbon steel. Carbon steel has its
properties mainly due to carbon content and does not contain more than 0.5% of silicon and 1.5% of
manganese. Following categorization of these steels is sometimes made for convenience:
Dead mild steel- up to 0.15% Carbon
Low carbon steel or mild steel- 0.15 to 0.45% Carbon
Medium carbon steel- 0.45 to 0.8% Carbon
High carbon steel- 0.8 to 1.5% Carbon

Dead Carbon Steel

It possesses very low percentage of carbon varying from 0.05 to 0.15%. It has a tensile strength of 390
N/mm2. Steel wire, sheets, rivets, screws, pipe, nail and chain are made from this steel. This steel is used for
making camshafts, sheets and strips for fan blades, welded tubing, forgings, chains, stamping, rivets, nails,
pipes, automobile body, etc.

Low Carbon or Mild Steel

Low carbon steel is sometimes known as mild steel also. It contains 0.20 to 0.30% carbon. It has tensile
strength of 555 N/mm2. It possesses bright fibrous structure. It is tough, malleable, ductile and more elastic
than wrought iron. It can be easily forged and welded. It can absorb shocks. It rusts easily. Its melting point is
about 1410°C. It is used for making angle, channels, case hardening steel, rods, tubes, valves, gears,
crankshafts, connecting rods, railway axles, fish plates, small forgings, free cutting steel shaft and forged
components etc.

Medium Carbon Steel

Medium carbon steel contains carbon from 0.30 to 0.8%. It possesses bright fibrous structure when fractured.
It is tough and more elastic in comparison to wrought iron. It can be easily forged, welded, elongated due to
ductility and beaten into sheets due to its good malleability. It can easily absorb sudden shocks. Its tensile
strength is better than cast iron and wrought iron. Its compressive strength is better than wrought iron but
lesser than cast iron. It rusts readily. Its melting point is 1400°C. It can be easily hardened and it possesses
good balance of strength and ductility. It is generally used for making railway coach axles, bolts, connecting
rods, key stock, wires and rods, shift and break levers, spring clips, gear shafts, small and medium forgings,
railway coach axles, crank pins on heavy machines, spline shafts, crankshafts, forging dies, set screws, die
blocks, self tapping screws, clutch discs, valve springs, plate punches, thrust washers etc.

High Carbon Steel

High carbon steel contains carbon from 0.8 to 1.5%. Because of their high hardness, these are suitable for
wear resistant parts. Spring steel is also high carbon steel. It is available in annealed and pre-tempered strips
and wires. High carbon steel loses their hardness at temperature from 200°C to 250°C. They may only be used
in the manufacture of cutting tools operating at low cutting speeds. These steels are easy to forge and simple

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Lecture notes prepared by Dr. Priyaranjan Pal
to harden. It has application for making cold chisels, drill bits, wrenches, wheels for railway service, jaws for
vises, structural wires, shear blades, automatic clutch discs, hacksaws etc.

REINFORCING STEEL:
Before TMT and HYSD bars, Mild steel bars were earlier used for small-scale construction. Mild steels are
not strong, having low tensile strength and bend ability. To overcome these, HYSD and TMT bars are
introduced for reinforcing heavy structure in large scale construction.

HYSD (High Yield Strength Deformed)

It is a high strength construction steel that owes its superior strength to the mechanical twisting of cold bar
which forms spiral ribs. These bars do not have definite yield point. These bars result in a considerable
increase in yield, tensile and bond strength when twisted hot or cold. Cold Twisted Deformed (CTD) bars are
most suitable for building purposes and widely used in India. CTD bars with trademark ToR are called Tor-
Steel. It is high strength deformed bars with high yield and bond strength. They are graded like Fe415 &
Fe500. HYSD bars are preferred as reinforcement in R.C.C. over plain mild steel bars, due to following
reasons.
 Higher strength : HYSD bars have yield strength, higher than that of plain mild steel bars.
 Better bond : HYSD bars have better bond with concrete due to corrugations or ribs on the surface of
the bars.

TMT (Thermo Mechanically Treated)

These bars are having extra high strength which eliminate any form of cold twisting. It has definite yield
point. It can resist high temperature up to 5000C with no loss of strength. These are more ductile compared to
CTD bars. It has high percentage of uniform elongation. These are highly recommended for use in high-rise
buildings because of the saving in steel due to the higher strength. TMT bars are typically graded as Fe415,
Fe415D, Fe500, Fe500D, Fe550, Fe550D, Fe600, etc. where the numbers indicate the level of stress that must
be applied to deform it. TMT bars are better in every metric when compared with HYSD bars. TMT bars are
better in Fire resistance, corrosion resistance, high dimensional tolerance, weld ability and most importantly
bend ability.
Now-a-days a new TMT bar of the grade Fe500S is introduced. Amongst the many grades of TMT bars this
new Fe500S possesses high ratio of tensile strength to yield stress which improves the concrete structure’s
ability to withstand earthquakes. Alongside it gives a very high percentage of elongation which enables the
steel to withstand greater amount of force and lateral shaking. The biggest advantage is this special category
of earthquake resistance TMT bars do not increase the project cost much. TMT reinforcement bars are
extensively used in the construction sector for several decades now. Further, India's steel maker companies
have developed TMT-HCR (high corrosion resistant) rebars and coils.

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Lecture notes prepared by Dr. Priyaranjan Pal
Testing of Reinforcing Bars
Reinforcing bars are used in reinforced concrete and are one of the main parts of R.C.C. structure. For that
reason, quality of plain and deformed bars should be checked specially for yield, ultimate strength and
elongation (ductility). The most important test is the tensile strength test. But sometimes bending test is also
done. Tension test provides information on the strength and ductility of materials under uniaxial tensile
stresses. Bend test is also a method for evaluating ductility but it cannot be considered as a quantitative means
of predicting service performance in bending operations.

Tension test is performed on mild steel, tor steel and high tensile steel to determine the properties like
Young’s modulus, ultimate strength, and the percentage elongation. In the tension test, a steel rod is subjected
to tension load by the means of a Universal testing machine (UTM). At least two test specimens that are
approximately 0.9 m in length are required for testing. One specimen is normally tested for tensile strength
while the other is tested for bend & rebend.

Procedure:
1. Preparation of Specimen: Initially, the steel rod specimen is cleaned and gauge length is marked on it.
The gauge length is calculated by the formula 5.65√A. Where A is original cross-sectional area of the
specimen which is calculated as [Area = Specimen weight / ( Specimen length × Density)]. The gauge
length can be marked on the specimen by punching tool.
2. Placing the Specimen: The handle is operated such that the specimen firmly fits to the top base. By
operating the handle, lift the lower crosshead chuck up and grip firmly the lower part of the specimen.
Once the specimen is placed, the jaws are locked. Gripping the specimen shall be restricted to the
section outside the gage length. Adjust the load pointer to zero with the zero adjusting knobs.
3. Loading: The speed of the testing shall not be greater than that at which the load and behavior of the
specimen can be properly observed.
4. Important Load Points: With the increase in load at some point, the load pointer remains stationary.
Load corresponding to this indicates the yield point. The stress at this point is computed and termed as
yield stress. Calculate the yield stress by dividing the load at the “yield point” by the nominal cross-
sectional area of the test specimen. With further increase in load, the pointer goes backward and
specimen breaks. The load before this breaking is the ultimate load. The load at the breaking of the
specimen is called as the breaking load. Calculate the tensile strength of the bar by dividing the
maximum load the specimen sustains during a tension test by the original cross-sectional area of the
specimen.
5. Elongation: To determine the percentage of elongation, fit the ends of the fractured specimen together
carefully and measure the distance between the gage marks. The elongation is the increase in length of
the gage length, expressed as a percentage of the original gage length.
6. Bend & Rebend Test: The bend test is performed by bending the steel bar at the midpoint resulting in
bending without fracture. The rebend test is performed to measure the effect of strain ageing on steel.
The bend test is one method for evaluating ductility, but it cannot be considered as a quantitative means

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 of predicting service performance in bending operations. The severity of the bend test is primarily a
function of the angle of bend and inside diameter to which the specimen is bent, and of the cross-section
of the specimen. These conditions are varied according to location and orientation of the test specimen
and the chemical composition, tensile properties, hardness, type, and quality of the steel specified.

NON-FERROUS METALS
Non-ferrous metals are those which have a metal other than iron as their main constituent, such as copper,
aluminium, brass, bronze, tin, silver zinc, nickel, etc., and their alloy. These metals possess low strength at
high temperatures, generally suffer from hot shortness and have more shrinkage than ferrous metals. They are
utilized in industry due to following advantages:
 High corrosion resistance
 Easy to fabricate, i.e., machining, casting, welding, forging and rolling
 Possess very good thermal and electrical conductivity
 Attractive colour and low density

Copper:
Copper is one of the most widely used non-ferrous metals in industry. It is red in color, highly ductile,
malleable and has high conductivity for electricity and heat. Copper is principally used in the electrical
industry in the form of wire and other conductors. It’s also used in sheet roofing, cartridge cases, statutes, and
bearings. Copper is also used to make brass, an alloy of copper and zinc. The following two important copper
alloys are widely used in practice:

Brass (Cu-Zn alloy)- It is fundamentally a binary alloy with Zn up to 50%. As Zn percentage increases,
ductility increases up to 37% of Zn beyond which the ductility falls. Brass is highly corrosion resistant, easily
machinable and therefore a good bearing material.

Bronze (Cu-Sn alloy)- This is mainly a copper-tin alloy where tin percentage may vary between 5 to 25. It
provides hardness but tin content also oxidizes resulting in brittleness. Gun metal is one such alloy where 2%
Zn is added as deoxidizing agent and typical compositions are 88% Cu, 10% Sn, 2% Zn. This is suitable for
working in cold state. It was originally made for casting guns but used now for boiler fittings, bushes, glands
and other uses.

Properties and Uses

 High Thermal Conductivity: Used in heat exchangers, heating vessels and appliances, etc.
 High Electrical Conductivity: Used as electrical conductor in various shapes and forms for various
applications.
 Good Corrosion Resistance: Used for providing coating on steel prior to nickel and chromium plating
 High Ductility: Can be easily cold worked, folded and spun. Requires annealing after cold working as
it loses its ductility.

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Lecture notes prepared by Dr. Priyaranjan Pal
Aluminium:
Aluminium is white metal which is produced by electrical processes from clayey mineral known as bauxite.
However, this aluminium ore bauxite is available in India in plenty. Aluminum is lightweight, soft and low
strength. It is easily cast, forged, machined and welded. It’s not suitable for high-temperature environments.
Because aluminum is lightweight, it is a good choice for manufacturing of aircraft and food cans. Aluminum
is also used in castings, pistons, railways, cars, and kitchen utensils.

Properties and Uses

 Like copper it is also corrosion resistant.
 It is very good conductor of heat and electricity although not as good as copper.
 Possesses high ductility and light weight so widely utilized in aircraft industry.
 Needs frequent annealing if cold worked since it becomes hard after cold working.
 In view of its ductility and malleability it has replaced copper in electrical transmission and appliances
to some extent.
 It is used in manufacturing of household utensils including pressure cookers.

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Lecture notes prepared by Dr. Priyaranjan Pal