Ores, which consist of the primary valuable mineral, predominant gangue content, valuable by-products, and detrimental impurities, are extracted and directed to mineral processing. This article describes the mineral processing facilities, such as crushers, grinders, concentrators, separators, and flotation devices that are used for particle size reduction, separation of particles according to their settling rates in fluids and dewatering of concentrate particles. It explains the basic principles, flow diagrams, ore concentrate preparation methods, and equipment of major types of metallurgical processes, including pyrometallurgical, hydrometallurgical, and electrometallurgical processes.

This article is a compilation of definitions for terms related to engineering materials.

Corrosion is classified into two categories: corrosion that is not influenced by any other process and corrosion that is influenced by another process such as the presence of stresses or erosion. This article discusses uniform corrosion, localized corrosion, metallurgically influenced corrosion, and microbiologically influenced corrosion, which fit under the classification of corrosion that is not influenced by any outside process. It also explains mechanically assisted degradation and environmentally induced cracking, which fit under the classification of corrosion that is influenced by an outside process.

Electrochemical refining is the purification process for producing commercially pure metals from crude metals. This article describes the principles of electrochemical reactions. It discusses the physical properties of the basic components of electrochemical refining cell. The article also explains the engineering considerations required in the refining process. Theoretical and technological principles of electrochemical refining are illustrated, with examples.

This article provides a summary of the concepts discussed in the Section “Corrosion in Specific Industries” in the ASM Handbook, Volume 13C:Corrosion: Environments and Industries. This Section applies the fundamental understanding of corrosion and knowledge of materials of construction to practical applications. The industries addressed are nuclear power, fossil and alternative fuel, land transportation, air transportation, microelectronics, chemical processing, pulp and paper, food and beverage, pharmaceutical and medical technology, petroleum and petrochemical, building, and mining and metal processing.

This article briefly discusses the annealing practices for refractory metals such as tungsten, molybdenum, niobium, tantalum, and rhenium and their alloys. It also presents the applications and properties of these metals and their alloys.

Refractory metals are extracted from ore concentrates or scrap, processed into intermediate chemicals, and then reduced to metal, usually in powder form. This article discusses the raw materials needed and the processing steps for producing pure and alloyed refractory metal powders. The effects of processing conditions on the physical and chemical properties of tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum, niobium, and rhenium powders are reviewed.

Development of the properties of copper powder metallurgy parts is affected by pressing and sintering processes used in the production of components, such as contacts, carbon brushes, and friction materials. This article briefly describes the powder properties of copper and discusses the roles of lubricant and compaction dies in pressing of copper powders. It explains the structural defects that originate during the compaction process of PM parts. The article also provides information on sintering, re-pressing, and re-sintering of copper PM parts.

This article focuses on mechanical testing characterization of blended elemental powder metallurgy (PM) titanium alloys and prealloyed PM titanium alloys. It examines the tensile properties, fracture toughness, stress-corrosion threshold resistance, fatigue strength, crack propagation properties, and processing-microstructure-property relationships of these alloys. The article also reviews five considerations for powder process selection.

The organizations that are most active in the development of standards for powder metallurgy (PM) are the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), Metal Powder Industries Federation (MPIF), and International Standards Organization (ISO). This article presents the test method standards, materials standards, and material designation codes for PM materials. It provides information on the codes for structural parts, PM soft magnetic materials, PM self-lubricating bearings, metal injection molded materials, and powder forged materials.

Thermal analysis is a classical method of determining phase diagrams and can be used to analyze the deviation from solidification under equilibrium conditions. This article discusses the use of thermal analysis in industrial processes and in research. It describes the theoretical basis of simplified and differential thermal analysis. Techniques for determining liquidus and solidus temperatures using cooling curves are also discussed.

This article presents the governing equations and methodologies to model the press and sinter powder metallurgy, including continuum, micromechanical, multiparticle, and molecular dynamics approaches. It describes the constitutive relation for compaction and sintering. The article discusses the experimental determination of material properties and simulation verification for compaction and sintering. It reviews the use of modeling and simulation of press and sinter powder metallurgy, including gravitational distorting in sintering, compaction optimization, sintering optimization, and coupled press and sinter optimization.

This article discusses continuum modeling, which is the most relevant approach in modeling grain growth, densification, and deformation during sintering. Continuum plasticity models are frequently used to describe the mechanical response of metal powders during compaction. The article illustrates the typical procedure for computer simulation for press and sinter process. It describes the procedure to obtain the material properties based on the generalized Shima-Oyane model. The article presents a wide variety of tests, accounting for data on the grain growth, densification, and distortion where these data help in the development of a constitutive model for sintering simulation. Finally, the article provides information on the simulation approaches used to optimize die compaction and sintering.

Beryllium is a metal with an unusual combination of physical and mechanical properties that make it particularly effective in optical components, precision instruments, and specialized aerospace applications. Almost all of the beryllium in use is a powder metallurgy (P/M) product. Beginning with an overview of the mining and refining processes of beryllium, this article discusses powder production and consolidation methods, beryllium grades and their designations, and the protective measures that have been enacted to reduce exposure to beryllium.

This article provides information on the infiltration mechanism of carbide structures. It reviews the basic techniques used for metal infiltration, including dip infiltration, contact filtration, gravity feed infiltration, and external-pressure infiltration. The article highlights various applications of contact infiltration in oil, gas, and blast-hole drilling such as fixed-cutter drill bits and diamond-impregnated coring bits. It also discusses the applications of infiltrated carbide material in erosion-resistant cladding.

This article discusses the methods for producing powder metallurgy (PM) nickel powders, including carbonyl process, hydrometallurgical process, hydrogen reduction process, and atomization process, as well as their applications. It describes three processes for producing nickel alloy powders: water atomization, high-pressure water atomization, and gas atomization. The article also provides information on the applications of PM hot isostatic pressing in the oil and gas industry.

Alloy 7097 is a quench insensitive Al-Mg-Zn-Cu-Zr alloy engineered for the most advantageous combination of strength, corrosion resistance, and fracture toughness in thick structural applications. This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy of alloy 7097 and processing effects on mechanical properties of alloy 7097-T7651 plate.

Zirconium, hafnium, and titanium are produced from ore that generally is found in a heavy beach sand containing zircon, rutile, and ilmenite. This article discusses the processing methods of these metals, namely, liquid-liquid separation process, distillation separation process, refining, and melting. It also discusses the primary and secondary fabrication of zirconium and hafnium and its alloys. The article talks about the metallurgy of zirconium and its alloys with emphasis on allotropic transformation, cold work and recrystallization, anisotropy and preferred orientation, and the role of oxygen. It concludes by providing useful information on the applications of reactor and industrial grades of zirconium alloys.

This article focuses on the concepts involved in heat-transfer modeling, thermomechanical modeling, and microsegregation modeling of hot tearing. It discusses the modeling of solidification defects, namely, inclusion entrapment, segregation, shrinkage cavities, gas porosity, mold-wall erosion, and hot-tear cracks.