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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.

Seasonal Flood Causes Suspension For Norilsk Nickel

Posted in Industry News on 21st June 2011

The seasonal suspension of loading operations at Dudinka sea port in Russia were in effect after water levels reached their peak and caused all port operations to grind to a halt. The suspension of loading operations at Dudinka port takes place annually in May and lasts approximately one month, causing disruption to the nickel suppliers.

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.

UK Tungsten Mine to re-open

Posted in Industry News on 23rd May 2011

ASX-listed Australian metals and exploration company Wolf Minerals are exploring the possibility of re-opening the Hemerdon mine in South Devon, near Dartmoor in the United Kingdom.

With the price of ferro tungsten having doubled in the last twelve months from around US$25.75 per Kg W contained to currently about US$55.00 per Kg W, due mainly to demand from the booming Indian and Chinese markets.

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.

Copper: An Overview

Posted in The World Of Metal on 27th April 2011

Copper and its alloys have been used for at least 10,000 years. During Roman times it was mainly sourced from Cyprus, and thus was originally named cyprium, meaning Metal of Cyprus. Despite its long history, over 95% of mined copper has been extracted since 1900 and estimates of remaining reserves vary between 25 and 60 years.

Powder Metallurgy

Posted in The World Of Metal on 19th April 2011

Powder metallurgy is the practice of producing metals in fine powder form, then shaping into solids using heat and pressure. Metal Powders worked in this way have a variety of uses, and are practical when working with high melting point alloys and economical when making small or complex parts, for example gears for small machines, where casting processes would involve considerable scrap loss.

Nickel Powders and Applications

Posted in The World Of Metal on 8th April 2011

Nickel powders are used in a variety of applications, such as Electro-Magnetic Shielding (EMS) and energy storage (e.g. in batteries). Nickel carbonyl gas can be decomposed under a number of different production parameters to produce nickel powders suitable for use in PM, magnetic and chemical applications.

Top Five Things to Look for in a Nickel or Nickel Alloy Supplier

Posted in Reflections on 31st March 2011

When choosing a nickel or nickel alloy supplier, there are many factors to consider; however, these are the five that we at William Rowland consider to be the most important...