List of named alloys explained

This is a list of named alloys grouped alphabetically by the metal with the highest percentage. Within these headings, the alloys are also grouped alphabetically. Some of the main alloying elements are optionally listed after the alloy names.

Alloys by base metal

Aluminium

See main article: Aluminium alloy.

• AA-8000: used for electrical building wire in the U.S. per the National Electrical Code, replacing AA-1350.^[1]
• Al–Li (2.45% lithium): aerospace applications, including the Space Shuttle
• Alnico (nickel, cobalt): used for permanent magnets
• Aluminium–Scandium (scandium)
• Birmabright (magnesium, manganese): used in car bodies, mainly used by Land Rover cars.
• Devarda's alloy (45% Al, 50% Cu, 5% Zn): chemical reducing agent.
• Duralumin (copper)
• Hiduminium or R.R. alloys (2% copper, iron, nickel): used in aircraft pistons
• Hydronalium (up to 12% magnesium, 1% manganese): used in shipbuilding, resists seawater corrosion
• Italma (3.5% magnesium, 0.3% manganese): formerly used to make coinage of the Italian lira
• Magnalium (5-50% magnesium): used in airplane bodies, ladders, pyrotechnics, etc.
• Ni-Ti-Al (titanium 40%, aluminum 10%), also called Nital
• Y alloy (4% copper, nickel, magnesium)

Aluminium also forms complex metallic alloys, like β–Al–Mg, ξ'–Al–Pd–Mn, and T–Al₃Mn.

Beryllium

See main article: beryllium.

• Lockalloy (62% beryllium, 38% aluminum) ^[2]

Bismuth

See main article: Bismuth.

• Bismanol (manganese); magnetic alloy from the 1950s using powder metallurgy
• Cerrosafe (lead, tin, cadmium)
• Rose metal (lead, tin)
• Wood's metal (lead, tin, cadmium)

Chromium

See main article: Chromium.

• Chromium hydride (hydrogen)
• Nichrome (nickel)
• Ferrochrome (iron)

Cobalt

• Elgiloy (cobalt, chromium, nickel, iron, molybdenum, manganese, carbon)[Cr-Co-Ni]
• Megallium (cobalt, chromium, molybdenum)
• Stellite (chromium, tungsten, carbon)
• Talonite (tungsten, molybdenum, carbon)
• Ultimet (chromium, nickel, iron, molybdenum, tungsten) ^[3]
• Vitallium (chromium, molybdenum)

Copper

See main article: Copper alloy.

• Arsenical copper (arsenic)
• Beryllium copper (0.5-3% beryllium, 99.5%-97% copper)^[4]
• Billon (silver)
• Brass (zinc) see also Brass §Brass types for longer list
  • Calamine brass (zinc)
  • Chinese silver (zinc)
  • Dutch metal (zinc)
  • Gilding metal (zinc)
  • Muntz metal (zinc)
  • Pinchbeck (zinc)
  • Prince's metal (zinc)
  • Tombac (zinc)
• Bronze (tin, aluminum or other element)
  • Aluminium bronze (aluminum)
  • Arsenical bronze (arsenic, tin)
  • Bell metal (tin)
  • Bismuth bronze (bismuth)
  • Brastil (alloy, bronze)^{[5] [6]}
  • Florentine bronze (aluminium or tin)
  • Glucydur (beryllium, iron)
  • Guanín (gold,silver)
  • Gunmetal (tin, zinc)
  • Phosphor bronze (tin and phosphorus)
  • Ormolu (zinc)
  • Silicon bronze (tin, arsenic, silicon)
  • Speculum metal (tin)
  • White bronze (tin, zinc)
• Constantan (nickel)
• Copper hydride (hydrogen)
• Copper–tungsten (tungsten)
• Corinthian bronze (gold, silver)
• Cunife (nickel, iron)
• Cupronickel (nickel)
• CuSil (silver)
• Cymbal alloys (tin)
• Devarda's alloy (aluminium, zinc)
• Hepatizon (gold, silver)
• Manganin (manganese, nickel)
• Melchior (nickel); high corrosion resistance, used in marine applications in condenser tubes
• Nickel silver (nickel)
• Nordic gold (aluminium, zinc, tin)
• Shakudo (gold)
• Tellurium copper (tellurium)
• Tumbaga (gold)

Gallium

See main article: Gallium.

• AlGa (aluminium, gallium)
• Galfenol (iron)
• Galinstan (indium, tin)

Gold

See main article: Gold alloy.

See also notes below^[7]

• Colored gold (silver, copper)
• Crown gold (silver, copper)
• Electrum (silver)
• Rhodite (rhodium)
• Rose gold (copper)
• Tumbaga (copper)
• White gold (nickel, palladium)

Indium

See main article: Indium.

• Field's metal (bismuth, tin)

Iron

See main article: Iron, Steel, Steel grades and Carbon steel.

Most iron alloys are steels, with carbon as a major alloying element.

• Elinvar (nickel, chromium)
• Fernico (nickel, cobalt)
• Ferroalloys
  • Ferroboron
  • Ferrocerium
  • Ferrochrome
  • Ferromagnesium
  • Ferromanganese
  • Ferromolybdenum
  • Ferronickel
  • Ferrophosphorus
  • Ferrosilicon
  • Ferrotitanium
  • Ferrouranium
  • Ferrovanadium
• Invar (nickel)
• Cast iron (carbon)
• Pig iron (carbon)
• Iron hydride (hydrogen)
• Kanthal (20–30% chromium, 4–7.5% aluminium); used in heating elements, including e-cigarettes
• Kovar (nickel, cobalt)
• Spiegeleisen (manganese, carbon, silicon)
• Staballoy (stainless steel) (manganese, chromium, carbon) - see also Uranium below
• Steel (carbon)
  • Bulat steel
  • Chromoly (chromium, molybdenum)
  • Crucible steel
  • Damascus steel
  • Ducol
  • Hadfield steel
  • High-speed steel
    • Mushet steel
  • HSLA steel
  • Maraging steel
  • Reynolds 531
  • Silicon steel (silicon)
  • Spring steel
  • Stainless steel (chromium, nickel)
    • AL-6XN
    • Alloy 20
    • Celestrium
    • Marine grade stainless
    • Martensitic stainless steel
    • Alloy 28 or Sanicro 28 (nickel, chromium)
    • Surgical stainless steel (chromium, molybdenum, nickel)
    • Zeron 100 (chromium, nickel, molybdenum)
  • Tool steel (tungsten or manganese)
    • Silver steel (US:Drill rod) (manganese, chromium, silicon)
  • Weathering steel ('Cor-ten') (silicon, manganese, chromium, copper, vanadium, nickel)
  • Wootz steel

Lead

See main article: Lead.

• Molybdochalkos (copper)
• Solder (tin)
• Terne (tin)
• Type metal (tin, antimony)

Magnesium

See main article: Magnesium alloy.

• Elektron
• Magnox (0.8% aluminium, 0.004% beryllium); used in nuclear reactors
• T-Mg–Al–Zn (Bergman phase) is a complex metallic alloy

Manganese

See main article: Manganese.

• MN40, used in a foil for brazing
• MN70, used in a foil for brazing

Mercury

See main article: Amalgam (chemistry).

• Amalgam
• Ashtadhatu

Nickel

• Alloy 230^[8]
• Alnico (aluminium, cobalt); used in magnets
• Alumel (manganese, aluminium, silicon)
• Brightray (20% chromium, iron, rare earths); originally for hard-facing valve seats
• Chromel (chromium)
• Cupronickel (bronze, copper)
• Ferronickel (iron)
• German silver (copper, zinc)
• Hastelloy (molybdenum, chromium, sometimes tungsten)
• Inconel (chromium, iron)
• Inconel 686 (chromium, molybdenum, tungsten)
• Monel metal (copper, iron, manganese)
• Nichrome (chromium)
• Nickel-carbon (carbon)
• Nicrosil (chromium, silicon, magnesium)
• Nimonic (chromium, cobalt, titanium), used in jet engine turbine blades
• Nisil (silicon)
• Nitinol (titanium, shape memory alloy)
• Magnetically "soft" alloys
  • Mu-metal (iron)
  • Permalloy (iron, molybdenum)
  • Supermalloy (molybdenum)
  • Brass (copper, zinc, manganese)
    • Nickel hydride (hydrogen)
    • Stainless steel (chromium, molybdenum, carbon, manganese, sulphur, phosphorus, silicon)
    • Coin silver (nickel)

Platinum

See main article: Platinum.

• Platinum-iridium

Plutonium

See main article: Plutonium.

• Plutonium–aluminium
• Plutonium–cerium
• Plutonium–cerium–cobalt
• Plutonium–gallium (gallium)
• Plutonium–gallium–cobalt
• Plutonium–zirconium

Potassium

See main article: Potassium.

• NaK (sodium)
• KLi (lithium)

Rare earths

See main article: Rare earth element.

• Mischmetal (various rare earth elements)
• Terfenol-D (terbium, dysprosium, and iron), a highly magnetostrictive alloy used in portable speakers such as the SoundBug device
• Ferrocerium (cerium, iron)
• Neodymium magnets, another strong permanent magnet
• SmCo (cobalt); used for permanent magnets in guitar pickups, headphones, satellite transponders, etc.
• Scandium hydride (hydrogen)
• Lanthanum-nickel alloy (nickel)

Rhodium

See main article: Rhodium.

• Pseudo palladium (rhodium–silver alloy)

Silver

See main article: Silver.

• Argentium sterling silver (copper, germanium)
• Billon
• Britannia silver (copper)
• Doré bullion (gold)
• Dymalloy (copper, metal matrix composite with diamond)
• Electrum (gold)
• Goloid (copper, gold)
• Platinum sterling (platinum)
• Shibuichi (copper)
• Sterling silver (copper)
• Tibetan silver (copper)

Titanium

See main article: Titanium alloy.

• 6al–4v (aluminium, vanadium)
• Beta C (vanadium, chromium, others)
• Gum metal (niobium, tantalum, zirconium, oxygen); used in spectacle frames, precision screws, etc.
• Titanium hydride (hydrogen)
• Titanium nitride (nitrogen)
• Titanium gold (gold)
• Titanium carbide [TiC]

Tin

See main article: Tin.

• Babbitt (copper, antimony, lead; used for bearing surfaces)
• Britannium (copper, antimony)^[9]
• Pewter (antimony, copper)
• Queen's metal (antimony, lead, and bismuth)
• Solder (lead, antimony)
• Terne (lead)
• White metal, (copper or lead); used as base metal for plating, in bearings, etc.

Uranium

See main article: Uranium.

• Staballoy (depleted uranium with other metals, usually titanium or molybdenum). See also Iron above for Staballoy (stainless steel).
• Uranium hydride (hydrogen)
• Mulberry (alloy) (niobium, zirconium)

Zinc

• Zamak (aluminium, magnesium, copper)
• Electroplated zinc alloys

See also

• Complex metallic alloys
• Heusler alloy, a range of ferromagnetic alloys (66% copper, cobalt, iron, manganese, nickel or palladium)
• High-entropy alloys
• Intermetallic compounds
• List of brazing alloys
• Pot metal; inexpensive casting metal of non-specific composition

Notes and References

1. Hunter, Christel (2006). Aluminum Building Wire Installation and Terminations, IAEI News, January–February 2006. Richardson, TX: International Association of Electrical Inspectors.
2. Hausner(1965) Beryllium its Metallurgy and Properties, University of California Press
3. Web site: Ultimet® alloy - Nominal Composition . . October 4, 2016 . October 5, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161005122154/http://www.haynesintl.com/alloys/alloy-portfolio_/Corrosion-resistant-Alloys/ULTIMET-alloy/nominal-compositiion . dead .
4. Donald E. Kirby, D. A. O'Keefe, Thomas A. Sullivan(1972) https://books.google.com/books?id=UM90ZYNX_VUC&q=Beryllium+copper, United States Department of the Interior
5. https://www.utoledo.edu/library/canaday/HTML_findingaids/MSS-202.html
6. Woldman’s Engineering Alloys, 9th Edition 1936, American Society for Metals, ISBN: 978-0-87170-691-1
7. The purity of gold alloys is expressed in karats, (UK: carats) which indicates the ratio of the minimum amount of gold (by mass) over 24 parts total. 24 karat gold is fine gold (24/24 parts), and the engineering standard is that it be applied to alloys that have been refined to 99.9% or better purity ("3 nines fine"). There are, however, places in the world that allow the claim of 24kt. to alloys with as little as 99.0% gold ("2 nines fine" or "point nine-nine fine). An alloy which is 14 parts gold to 10 parts alloy is 14 karat gold, 18 parts gold to 6 parts alloy is 18 karat, etc. This is becoming more commonly and more precisely expressed as a decimal fraction, i.e.: 14/24 equals .585 (rounded off), and 18/24 is .750 ("seven-fifty fine").

   There are hundreds of possible alloys and mixtures possible, but in general the addition of silver will color gold green, and the addition of copper will color it red. A mix of around 50/50 copper and silver gives the range of yellow gold alloys the public is accustomed to seeing in the marketplace.

8. Mathias . Paul M. . Molecular modeling in engineering design and materials development. . Fluid Phase Equilibria . 15 March 1996 . 116 . 1–2 . 225–236 . 10.1016/0378-3812(95)02891-9 . 11 July 2022.
9. Web site: Retired Product.