The World Of Metal | News | William Rowland

Uses of Tin Based Alloys

Posted in The World Of Metal on 11th January 2012

Tin is rarely used as a metal on its own, but more commonly in association with other metals to form alloys such as pewter and white metal bearing alloys.

Scandinavian pewter is a mixture of tin, antimony, copper and bismuth, however English pewter are 91% tin, 7.5% antimony and 1.5% copper. The tin and copper combination is commonly used in tableware, and the tin and antimony combination in the production of flatware.

The Pressures of Being Iron Oxide

Posted in The World Of Metal on 23rd December 2011

Scientists continue to find out more of what lies 6,000km beneath the surface of the Earth through research and experimentation in laboratories across the world. The Earth's mantle is made up of a solid mixture of magnesium and iron oxide. The electronic link from between the core and mantle is formulate by iron oxide, and affects the magnetic field that we see on the Earth's surface.

Iron oxide is one of the main materials found at the centre of the earth, and research has indicated a change to iron oxide due to extreme pressures of 690,000 times sea level and temperatures of 1,650ºC. This has dramatically changed the way in which the metal conducts electricity, with no change to its structure.

Applications of Nickel

Posted in The World Of Metal on 20th December 2011

Nickel is useful in many applications due to its numerous desirable properties including corrosion resistance, durability and availability.

Nickel is relatively important and a widely used constituent in alloy steels. It is best known to be a solid solution strengthener and is used in 300 different grades of stainless steels. It also provides the basics to create many extensive super alloys that are resistant to heat, oxidation and corrosion. Wrought steels, including stainless steel are responsible for the harden-ability agent. Nickel's presence in alloy steels also promotes toughness at lower temperatures.

The Metal of Choice - Aluminium

Posted in The World Of Metal on 12th December 2011

Aluminium is a metal that plays a key role in the fuel, automotive and aerospace industry. It is an extremely lightweight metal, which is ideal for these industries as it ensures that the weight of the vehicle is dramatically reduced. A lighter vehicle results in reduced fuel consumption and reduced fuel emissions, making aluminium the metal of choice. Aluminium is also used in the construction industry; it has corrosive resistance properties that make it idyllic for use in the development of low maintenance buildings.

Strong And Tough – It’s the HLSA alloy!

Posted in The World Of Metal on 16th November 2011

High strength low alloy steel (HLSA) is an alloy steel that provides mechanical properties and resistance to corrosion better than that of carbon steel. Their carbon content range is between 0.05 - 0.25% which retains formability and weld ability.

Other alloying elements include up to 2.0% manganese and small quantities of copper, nickel, niobium, nitrogen, vanadium, chromium, molybdenum, titanium, calcium, rare earth elements, or zirconium. Elements such as copper, titanium, vanadium and niobium are added to strengthen alloys, and alter the microstructure of carbon steels.

Molybdenum in Constructional Engineering Steels and Stainless Steels

Posted in The World Of Metal on 31st August 2011

In 2009 approximately 21,200 tonnes of molybdenum were used across the globe. Constructional engineering and stainless steel sectors dominate with 60% of total usage. Although engineering steels typically use less the 1% Mo, more often 0.1 to 0.2% Mo, where the tonnages produced are enormous.

Hardfacing with Metal Powders

Posted in The World Of Metal on 23rd June 2011

Hardfacing is a metalworking process where a harder metal material is welded to a base metal or another material. Hardfacing has two main purposes - to increase wear resistance and to restore worn surfaces.

By using this technique the results can often mean significant reductions in down-time of valuable equipment.

Two New Elements Discovered - Ununquadium and Ununhexium

Posted in The World Of Metal on 16th June 2011

The recent discovery of two new elements at positions 114 and 116 has been credited to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, USA.

The use of Tin in the ‘Float Glass’ Production Process

Posted in The World Of Metal on 7th June 2011

One particular area of business for William Rowland is in the supply of tin to the ‘Float Glass' Industry.

So, what is Float glass?

Float glass is essentially the process of producing ‘sheet glass' or window glass.

All That Glitters Is Sometimes Silver

Posted in The World Of Metal on 7th May 2011

All that glitters is not always gold - there's silver to consider as well! Silver has been used for thousands of years to make jewellery and ornaments, and as the basis for many monetary systems, and whilst the jewellery industry today accounts for a great part of the final end user market, the metal has applications way beyond that, in the electrical sector for example.

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