Different Types of Alloys

You must have heard the term alloy many times, and also come across a few. These are found very often in nature and are defined as a mixture of two or more materials, out of which at least one has to be a metal. Alloys can be a combination of various metallic and non-metallic components and also a mixture of different metals. No matter what these combinations and mixtures are, each component present in an alloy is known to have its own specific set of properties. There are alloys of all metals formed under the earth's crust and there can be a large number of alloys of a single metal. This is because these combinations of metals with each other as well as non-metallic components, can go up to any number and types of alloys. Find out which are the most commonly found different types of alloys mentioned below.

What Are the Different Types of Alloys

Some well-known metals like Aluminum, Cobalt, Copper, etc. have more than five types of alloys. This happens depending on the number of times these metals combine with another metal or a non-metal. Thus, there are a few general types of alloys which are common in nature and can be used for a number of purposes. These different types of alloys are usually stronger than pure metals and are used in certain engineering constructions. Hence, find out some basic examples of alloys from the coming up list for your information.

List of Alloys
There is a wide variety of different types of alloys found in nature, as discussed above. Every metal has at least one alloy made from its combination with any other material. Some of the alloys mentioned in the lower list may be repeated, as they are combined alloys of two or more metals. Most of them are used for some or the other industrial purposes. Many a time it so happens, that an alloy of a metal is more useful than the metal itself and hence, they are very useful in daily lives. We here have a short list of all these alloys from different metals mentioned below, so read on and find out. You can also read more about alkaline earth metals.

Aluminum

• AA-8000
• Alnico (aluminum, nickel, copper)
• Duralumin (copper, aluminum)
• Zamak (zinc, aluminum, magnesium, copper)
• Silumin (aluminum, silicon)
• Aluminum forms other complex alloys with magnesium, manganese, and platinum

Bismuth

• Wood's metal (bismuth, lead, tin, cadmium)
• Field's metal
• Rose metal (bismuth, lead, tin)

Cobalt

• Stellite (cobalt, chromium, tungsten or molybdenum, carbon)
• Talonite (cobalt, chromium)
• Ultimet (cobalt, chromium, nickel, molybdenum, iron, tungsten)
• Vitallium
• Megallium

Copper

• Arsenical copper
• Beryllium copper (copper, beryllium)
• Brass (copper, zinc)
• Billon (copper, silver)
• Bronze (copper, tin, aluminum or any other element)
• Constantan (copper, nickel)
• Cunife (copper, nickel, iron)
• Copper-tungsten (copper, tungsten)
• Cupronickel (copper, nickel)
• Cymbal alloys (Bell metal) (copper, tin)
• Electrum (copper, gold, silver)
• Heusler alloy (copper, manganese, tin)
• Hepatizon (copper, gold, silver)
• Manganin (copper, manganese, nickel)
• Nickel silver (copper, nickel)
• Shakudo (copper, gold)
• Nordic gold (copper, aluminum, zinc, tin)

Gold

• Tumbaga (gold, copper)
• Electrum (gold, silver, copper)
• White gold (gold, nickel, palladium, or platinum)
• Rose gold (gold, copper)

Iron

1. Anthracite iron (carbon)
2. Pig iron (carbon)
3. Cast iron (carbon)
4. Wrought iron (carbon)

Ferrous Alloys

1. Steel (carbon)
2. Silicon steel (silicon)
3. Stainless steel (chromium, nickel)
4. Tool steel (tungsten or manganese)
5. Chromoly (chromium, molybdenum)

Find more on ferrous metals list.

Lead

• Antimonial lead (lead, antimony)
• Solder (lead, tin)
• Molybdochalkos (lead, copper)
• Type metal (lead, tin, antimony)

Nickel

• Alumel (nickel, manganese, aluminum, silicon)
• Cupronickel (nickel, bronze, copper)
• Chromel (nickel, chromium)
• German silver (nickel, copper, zinc)
• Hastelloy (nickel, molybdenum, chromium, sometimes tungsten)
• Monel metal (copper, nickel, iron, manganese)
• Inconel (nickel, chromium, iron)

Zinc

• Zamak (zinc, aluminum, magnesium, copper)

With such an elaborated list of different types of alloys, there are many more which are not mentioned here. Since, there are millions of alloys found in nature, the ones mentioned above was a short attempt to pen down a few, which are very useful.