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.

Nickel and nickel alloys have an excellent combination of corrosion, oxidation, and heat resistance, combined with good mechanical properties. Nickel alloys can be divided into alloys that combine corrosion and heat resistance, superalloys for high-temperature applications, and special nickel alloys. Corrosion- and heat-resistant nickel alloys include commercially pure and low-alloy nickels, nickel-copper alloys, nickel-molybdenum and nickel-silicon alloys, nickel-chromium-iron alloys, nickel-chromium-molybdenum alloys, and nickel-chromium-iron-molybdenum-copper alloys. Special nickel alloys include electrical-resistance alloys, low-expansion alloys, magnetically soft alloys, and shape memory alloys. This chapter discusses the metallurgy, nominal composition, properties, applications, advantages, and disadvantages of these alloys. It also provides information on cobalt wear-resistant alloys and cobalt corrosion-resistant alloys.

This article explains how alloying elements affect the properties and behaviors of electrical contacts. It describes the composition, strength, hardness, and conductivity of a wide range of contact alloys and composites based on silver, copper, gold, platinum, palladium, tungsten, and molybdenum, and related oxides and carbides.

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.