Steel
Steel sheets can effectively be protected against corrosion by extremely thin (only a fraction of a millimeter = approx. 1 to 20 micrometers ) layers of zinc. Using galvanized sheet metal is interesting because of its low price. Even if the protective zinc layer is being damaged there still won’t be any corrosion, since the „cathodic protection“ is maintained up to a distance of approx. 2 millimeters. Application areas are automotive industry, ventilation and air conditioning technology as well as the construction industry etc.
1.0xxx
St12o3 gal. galvanized finish = electrolytic galvanized
Sheet thickness: 0,50 | 0,75 | 1,00 | 1,20 | 1,50 | 2,00 | 2,50 | 3,00
1.0xxx
SSt12o3 St12o3 hot-dip galvanized
Sheet thickness: 0,50 | 0,75 | 1,00 | 1,20 | 1,50 | 2,00 | 2,50 | 3,00 | 4,00 | 5,00
1.0375
Tinplate, electrolytically tin-plated
Sheet thickness: 0,20 | 0,28 | 0,32 | 0,37 | 0,42 | 0,52 | 0,58 | 0,64 | 0,70 | 0,75 | 0,80 | 1,00
Stainless Steel
Stainless steels are characterized by an excellent resistance to chemically attacking substances. They generally have a Cr mass-fraction of 12 % and a C mass-fraction of 1.2 % at the most.
Sheet thickness: 0,50 | 0,75 | 1,00 | 1,25 | 1,50 | 2,00 | 3,00 | 4,00 | 5,00
Diameter: rising from 4,00 bis 20,00 in 2 mm | rising from 25,00 bis 50,00 in 5 mm
Sheet thickness: 0,10 | 0,20 | 0,30 | 0,40 | 0,50 | 0,60 | 0,70 | 0,80 | 1,00 | 1,50 | 2,00
Comments: Welding and soldering are not recommended, not hardenable, no high gloss finish
Sheet thickness: 0,50 | 0,75 | 1,00 | 1,25 | 1,50 | 2,00 | 3,00 | 4,00 | 5,00
Comments: Weldable without post-treatment, high gloss finish, not magnetizable or hardenable. Main use in chemical, petroleum, beverages and food industries
Sheet thickness: 0,50 | 0,75 | 1,00 | 1,25 | 1,50 | 2,00 | 3,00 | 4,00 | 5,00
Comments: Weldable, no high gloss finish. Used in devices exposed to heavy acid attacks, like in the pulp, paint, textile or chemical industry
Brass
Brass has been known since the third millennium B.C. from Assyria and Babylonia. Where electrical conductivity and mechanical stability are needed at the same time brass is technically significant. Antennas or waveguides for example are often made of brass. Because of its good chemical corrosion properties it is often used for bathroom fittings in sanitary installation. In addition, it is a good bearing material because of its emergency running properties.
Copper
Copper, gold and tin were the first metals mankind got to know. Copper is used for coins, electric cables, jewelry, cutlery, fittings, boilers, precision parts, art objects, musical instruments, pipelines etc. For electrical cables, conductors and components as well as heat sinks it is commonly used because of its very good electrical and thermal conductivity properties.
Plastic
Thermoplastic
Most plastics we use in everyday life are thermoplastics. The more you heat plastic the more malleable (= plastic) it gets, which is its main characteristic. However, it melts in excessive heat, like a plastic bowl on a hot stove plate. This behavior distinguishes them from thermosets, which do not melt but decompose when heated.
Polyethene (also polyethylene, PE) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are the most commonly used industrially manufactured plastics. Everyday objects, like plastic or freezer bags, buckets, laundry baskets, crates or rubbish containers etc. are normally made of polyethen, but also pipes or wire insulation are often made of this material. At room temperature PE is a rather soft thermoplastic. You can easily scratch an object made of PE with your finger. However, the material behaves very stable towards chemicals: salt solutions, alkalis and most inorganic acids dont’t attack the material and even nail polish remover is sold in polyethene bottles. Without added pigments polyethene is translucent but not completely transparent, unless the material is processed into a very thin film. Depending on the manufacturing process the density of polyethene is between 0.90 and 0,95 g/cm3that is it floats in water.
Polystyrene (PS) is a widely used thermoplastic mass plastic. It is produced by radical polymerization of styrene. In the chemical industry this substance is a liquid that is manufactured from petroleum. Pure PS is hard, colorless and brittle. The high gloss surface is striking. Polystyrene is acid-, alkali-, and alcohol-resistant. However, it is attacked by many non-polar solvents.
Polypropene (also polypropylene, PP) is a relatively young plastic. In 1954 it was synthesized and industrially produced for the first time by scientist Giulio Natta in Italy. The synthesis is based on the Ziegler-Natta polymerization.
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is used in many different areas in large quantities. By adding different substances the elasticity of polyvinyl chloride can vary widely and that’s why it is both used as a hard material for pipes, gutters or shell suitcases and as a soft material for garden hoses and floor covering. Even the good old vinyl record is – as the name implies – made of PVC. This plastic is even processed as PVC paste to be applied on textiles (for rain coats) or on foamed material (for upholstered furniture).
Plastic
Thermosets
In some respects thermosets are the opposites of thermoplastics: When heated they aren’t getting soft or even melting, but decompose, since their melting temperature is above the decomposition temperature.
Furthermore, if forced, they don’t deform, but rather break. Overall they are much harder and more brittle than thermoplastics. If you want to process them, you have to do that machanically – as e.g. with wood by sawing, filing or rasping (in practice, however, PVC items are produced in the desired form right away and don’t need mechanical treatment).
Polyesters are versatile plastics which accompany our everyday life. All sorts of things may be produced of Polyesters. Apart from textile fibres (like Trevira®, Dacron®, Diolen®) there are for example the famous plastic beverage bottles made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and other food packaging. Even CDs are made of polyester, namely polycarbonate, which is an ester of carbonic acid.
As a textiel fibre PET has several useful properties: It is hardly strechable and therefore very shape-retaining, crease-resistant, tearproof and only takes little water, so it’s very suitable e. g. for sportswear, which is meant to dry quickly on the body to avoid cooling down.
Copolymerization influences the properties of plastics by combining various plastics with different properties to one single plastic. This means that copolymeres don’t only consist of one sort of plastic, like polyacrylic, but of two or more, like polyacrylic and PVC.
The essential characteristic of elastomeres is that they may be stretched to at least twice their length and return to their original state when released.
