This article discusses the compositions, properties, and uses of silver, gold, and platinum group metals, including platinum, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium, and osmium. It describes the role of various alloying elements and explains how they affect physical, mechanical, and electrical properties as well as corrosion resistance.

The chapter covers various aspects of biotribology in the context of dental care, orthopedic implants, haptics, eyewear, and stents and fixation devices. It also addresses the issue of biocompatibility and the effects of friction and contact pressure on skin.

This chapter describes the applications with the greatest impact on titanium consumption and global market trends. It explains where, how, and why titanium alloys are used in aerospace, automotive, chemical processing, medical, and military applications as well as power generating equipment, sporting goods, oil and gas production, and marine vessels.

This article discusses the general purpose of alloying and identifies some of the material properties and behaviors that can be improved by adding various elements to the base metal. It explains how alloying can make metals stronger and more resistant to corrosion and wear as well as easier to cast, weld, form, and machine. It also discusses some of the alloying techniques that have been developed to address problems stemming from dissimilarities between the base metal and alloying or inoculate material.

This article provides a brief description of commercially important thermal spray processes and gives examples of applications and application requirements. The processes covered are flame, wire arc, plasma, high-velocity oxyfuel processes, detonation gun, and cold spray methods. Examples are provided of the applications in aerospace, automotive, and medical device industries as well as the use of thermal spray as an additive manufacturing technique.

Superalloys, although not strictly defined, are generally regarded as high-performance alloys based on group VIII elements (nickel, cobalt, or iron, with a high percentage of nickel) to which a multiplicity of alloying elements have been added. The defining feature of a superalloy is its combination of relatively high mechanical strength and surface stability at high operating temperatures. This chapter provides a brief history of the development of superalloys and discusses their use in the gas turbine engines.

This chapter discusses the compositions, properties, and applications of nonferrous metals, including zirconium, hafnium, beryllium, lead, tin, gold, silver, and platinum group metals. It also addresses fusible alloys and provides melting temperatures for several compositions.

Nonferrous metals are of commercial interest both as engineering materials and as alloying agents. This chapter addresses both roles, discussing the properties, processing characteristics, and applications of several categories of nonferrous metals, including light metals, corrosion-resistance alloys, superalloys, refractory metals, low-melting-point metals, reactive metals, precious metals, rare earth metals, and metalloids or semimetals. It also provides a brief summary on special-purpose materials, including uranium, vanadium, magnetic alloys, and thermocouple materials.

Martensitic stainless steels are essentially iron-chromium-carbon alloys that possess a body-centered tetragonal crystal structure (martensitic) in the hardened condition. Martensitic stainless steels are similar to plain carbon or low-alloy steels that are austenitized, hardened by quenching, and then tempered for increased ductility and toughness. This chapter provides a basic understanding of grade designations, properties, corrosion resistance, and general welding considerations of martensitic stainless steels. It also discusses the causes for hydrogen-induced cracking in martensitic stainless steels and describes sulfide stress corrosion resistance of type 410 weldments.

This chapter discusses the development of stainless steel. It begins with some information on the discovery of stainless steel. This is followed by a discussion on the most important patents issued for stainless steel. Applications of stainless steel beyond their original use in cutlery and tableware are then presented. Information on the development of alloys for specific applications and on the argon oxygen decarburization process is also provided. The chapter ends with a discussion on the major use for stainless steel after WWII.

This chapter provides an introduction to powder processing of binders and polymers. It sets the context for the remainder of the book by providing an overview of the topics discussed in the subsequent chapters and by providing introduction to powder-binder fabrication and customization of feedstock and describing the challenges in component production. The chapter also summarizes alphabetically a few key concepts in powder-binder processing.

This chapter discusses the growing use of sintered stainless steels in automotive applications and various types of filters and filtering media. It also describes how these materials are produced in the form of metal foams and cellular structures and how they serve as flake pigments in corrosion-resistant coatings.

Titanium is a lightweight metal with a density approximately 60% that of steel and, through alloying and deformation processing, it can be just as strong. It is readily available in many grades and forms and can be further processed using standard methods and techniques. This chapter provides a concise review of the capabilities of titanium and its design advantages over other materials. It includes information on properties and selection factors as well as applications.

This chapter examines the early literature on stainless steel to gain an understanding of the state-of-the-art of stainless steel as it progressed through the first 37 years after the discoveries made in Sheffield and Essen.

This chapter discusses some of the promising developments in the use of titanium, including titanium aluminides, titanium matrix composites, superplastic forming, spray forming, nanotechnology, and rapid solidification rate processing. It also reports on efforts to increase the operating temperature range of conventional titanium alloys and reduce costs.

The discovery and use of materials have shaped civilization since ancient times. This chapter traces the history of the use of metals from hammered copper estimated to be 11,000 years old to the development of electrolytically refined aluminum in 1884. The discussion covers the advent of the Bronze Age, extraction of metals from their respective ores, and the discovery of modern metals such as chromium, vanadium, platinum, and titanium.

In 1924, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) organized the symposium "Corrosion and Heat Resisting Alloys, and Electrical Resistance Alloys." It was the beginning of a major role that ASTM played in the history of stainless steel. This chapter provides information on the papers presented at the 1924 symposium. It also describes the role of ASTM in stainless steel standardization after the 1924 symposium.

This chapter concerns itself with the tribology of ceramics, cermets, and cemented carbides. It begins by describing the composition and friction and wear behaviors of aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, and zirconia. It then compares and contrasts the microstructure, properties, and relative merits of cermets with those of cemented carbides.

This chapter presents several materials and processes related to soldering technology. It first provides information on lead-free solders, followed by sections devoted to flip-chip processes, diffusion soldering, and modeling. Scanning acoustic microscopy and fine-focus x-ray techniques are also discussed. The chapter describes several evaluation procedures and tests developed to measure solderability and standards for process calibration. The chapter also describes the characteristics of reinforced solders, amalgams used as solders, and other strategies to boost the strength of solders. Further, the chapter considers methods for quantifying the mechanical integrity of joints and predicting their dimensional stability under specified environmental conditions. It discusses the effects of rare earth elements on the properties of solders. The chapter concludes with information on advanced joint characterization techniques.