Alloy

Metals

The mixture of any element with a pure metal. The melting temperature of an alloy is usually less than the melting temperature of the parent metals.

There are several elements regularly occurring in plain carbon steel as manufactured, such as carbon, manganese, silicon, phosphorous, sulphur, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen. Plain carbon steel is therefore an alloy of iron and carbon and these other elements are incidental to its manufacture. Steel does not become alloy steel until these elements are increased beyond their regular composition for a specific purpose, or until other metals are added in significant amounts for a specific purpose.

Plastics

A way to create custom variations in plastics. In general alloys are combinations of polymers that are physically mixed.

See also: Alloying Elements, Amalgam, Assay, Atom Percent, Base Metal, Lever Rule, Matrix, Wrought Alloy.