Materials and Processes for Agricultural

and Biosystems Engineering

Non-Ferrous Materials
Introduction
The non-ferrous metals which are most commonly used by engineers, it
also refers to the 38 metals other than iron that are known to man.
Introduction
Two Most Important Non-Ferrous Metals
1. Aluminum (Al)
2. Copper (Cu)

* They are not only form the bases of many important alloys, but
they are widely used in their own right as pure metals.
Introduction
The pure non-ferrous metals are used mainly where their
properties of corrosion resistance and high electrical and
thermal conductivity can be exploited. They are not widely used
as structural materials in mechanical engineering because of
their relatively low strengths.
Aluminum and Its Alloys
Aluminum cannot be purified by blowing air through it.
The properties of aluminum which chiefly affect its use as a
metallurgical material are its low relative density and its high affinity for
oxygen.
Aluminum and Its Alloys
Alloys of Aluminum

The addition of alloying elements is made principally to improve

mechanical properties, such as tensile strength, hardness, rigidity and
machinability, and sometimes to improve fluidity and other casting
properties.
Aluminum and Its Alloys
Alloys of Aluminum | 2 Classifications

1. Wrought Alloys (Not heat-treated or heat-treated)

2. Casting Alloys (Not heat-treated or heat-treated)
Copper and Its Alloys
Copper was undoubtedly the first metal to be used by Man. In many
countries it is found in small quantities in the metallic state and, being
soft, it was readily shaped into ornaments and utensils.
Copper and Its Alloys
Properties and Uses of Copper
A very large part of the world's production of metallic copper is used in
the unalloyed form, mainly in the electrical industries. Copper has a
very high specific conductivity, and is, in this respect, second only to
silver, to which it is but little inferior. When relative costs are considered,
copper is naturally the metal used for industrial purposes demanding
high electrical conductivity.
Copper and Its Alloys
Copper-based Alloys
The copper-based alloys include the brasses and bronzes, the latter
being copper-rich alloys containing either tin, aluminum, silicon or
beryllium; though the tin bronzes are possibly the best known.

The Brasses. The brasses comprise the useful alloys of copper and zinc
containing up to 45% zinc, and constitute one of the most important
groups of nonferrous engineering alloys.
The Tin Bronzes. Bronzes containing approximately 10 % Tin were
probably the first alloys to be used by man