Metallurgy for the Non-Metallurgist

Course Overview

• Presents a brief history of metals, providing insight into the discovery and use of pure metals and alloys thousands of years before the modern era
• Provides an explanation of the unique physical characteristics of metals, including the reasons that metals behave differently than such non-metals as plastics, glass, wood, etc.
• Explains the basis for the selection of different metals for specific engineering applications.
• Describes how metals are alloyed to achieve desired properties.
• Provides details on one of the most important of all alloys -- steel – and discusses how steel is heat-treated to achieve various combinations of strength and ductility.
• Explains how metals are formed into the components that are used in our most important engineered machines and structures.
• Describes how metals are tested to determine critical properties, such as strength, ductility and toughness.
• Discusses why metals corrode, why different metals behave differently in corrosive environments, and how the corrosion of metals can be controlled.

Course Outline

Metals: A History: History of the discovery of the major commercially important metals; the first primitive refining techniques; brief descriptions of cultural significance of metals.

Effective Metallurgy: Techniques used to win metals from mineral ores, including hydrometallurgical, pyrometallurgical, and electrometallurgical techniques.

Solidification of Metals: Introduction to the science of metallurgy, including crystal structure; concepts of solidification and solid solubility; basic binary phase diagrams.

Metal Forming: Forging, rolling, extrusion, swaging, and other techniques employed to form metals at elevated temperatures; rolling, stamping, coining, spinning, and other techniques used to form metals at ambient temperatures.

Mechanical Properties and Their Measurement: Definitions of mechanical properties and explanations of testing procedures; introduction to concepts of standardization and quality control.

Steels and cast Irons: Applications and Metallurgy: Description of the allotropic nature of iron and its effect on the properties of steels and cast irons; listing of selected applications of steels and cast irons.

Heat Treatment of Steel: Hardness and hardenability of steel; specific processes and their applications; heat treating procedures, equipment, quenchants, and hardness measurements.

Case Hardening of Steel: Techniques used to harden the case of a metal, including carburizing, nitriding, carbonitriding; procedure for measuring case depth.

Strengthening Mechanisms: Techniques used to harden the nonferrous metals, including age hardening, strain hardening and related metallurgical concepts for aluminum, titanium, copper, and other nonferrous metals.

Nonferrous Metals: Industrial Applications and Properties:: Light metals, aluminum, beryllium, magnesium, and titanium; copper and its alloys; lead, tin, and zinc; precious metals.

Joining: Techniques of welding, brazing, and soldering, including descriptions of specific applications of each process described.

Corrosion and Corrosion Prevention: Causes of corrosion and the environmental factors which contribute to it; types of corrosion are discussed, together with techniques for minimizing it.

Quality Control and Failure Analysis: Procedures for predicting and/or evaluating the performance of metals in service.

Materials Characterization and the Selection Process: Explanation of the designation systems for classes of metals and alloys in worldwide use today; descriptions of factors which affect the selection of a material for a particular application; brief comparison of polymers and ceramics related to metals; case studies of material selection problems.

What you'll learn

• How metals are recovered from nature and processed into usable forms
• The characteristics of different metal alloy systems
• A basic understanding of phase diagrams
• Factors that affect selection of the proper material
• Mechanical properties and various testing methods
• How the properties of metals can be altered through heat treatment
• Introduction to mechanisms of corrosion and comparative corrosive potential

Who should enrol

This is an ideal first course for anyone who needs a working understanding of metals and their applications. It has been designed for those with no previous training in metallurgy, such as technical, laboratory, and sales personnel; engineers from other disciplines; management and administrative staff; and non-technical support staff such as purchasing and receiving agents who order and inspect incoming material.