Metals are used in many areas of our lives. They are used in industry, design, everyday life, jewelry, construction, and medicine. At the same time, malleability is one of the most important characteristics that determines the ability of metals to withstand processing. What does it depend on? How is it manifested? Let's find out.
Forgeability is a property of metals
Most often, malleability is considered in the context of metals, since it is in them that it manifests itself better than in other materials and substances. First of all, this is due to their internal structure. This is due to the fact that their atoms can change position in their crystal lattices, overcoming only a small resistance.
So what is malleability? This is the ability of materials to be subjected to mechanical stress and change their shape without collapsing or breaking. It is close to plasticity and is the exact opposite of the fragility of substances.
Like fluidity, abrasion and toughness, malleability is a process characteristic. With it, you can determine how a metal or alloy is suitable for a particulara different type of impact, and in what area they can be applied. In the first place, malleability is necessary when forming materials or using a large force, for example, during forging, stamping, pressing, rolling.
What does it depend on?
Forgeability is very dependent on the degree, speed, uniformity of deformation, as well as the temperature at which it occurs. The main factors affecting malleability are the nature of the metals and alloys themselves, their composition, purity, internal structure and thermal conductivity.
The most malleable metals are copper, gold and silver. This property is also characteristic of titanium, tin, brass, magnesium, bronze and aluminum alloys. Steel can be worked well, but carbon impurities make it harder. Therefore, the more of them, the less plastic it is. The same can be said for chrome. In its pure form, it has good malleability, but becomes brittle when hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, or oxygen are added.
