Alloy

An alloy is a mixture of a metal and at least one other element - e.g. steel, brass, or solder.

The added elements distort the regular arrangement of the metal and as a result, the layers will be more resistant to sliding - therefor the alloy will be stronger than the pure metal. In short, the alloy will be less malleable than the pure metal.

For example, steel is an alloy of Iron and Carbon - it is stronger than Iron, and in the case of Stainless Steel: resistant to corrosion, unlike Iron.

---

Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0.