There are often some companies that ask you to list the properties and uses of commonly used metal materials during interviews, see if you can list a few, and explain their properties and uses, so as to examine your understanding of materials in product design. The degree of understanding and understanding; of course, the commonly used metal materials may be related to the materials that each person has contacted in their previous work. Each industry has its own commonly used materials. As long as you have done a few actual projects, you can definitely list one, two, three Come.

1. Cast iron

Material characteristics: excellent fluidity, low cost, good wear resistance, low solidification shrinkage, very brittle, high compressive strength, good machinability.

Typical Uses: Cast iron has been used for hundreds of years in construction, bridges, engineering components, home furnishing, and kitchen utensils, such as sewer covers, equipment bases, brackets, and more.

2. Stainless steel

Stainless steel is divided into four main types: austenitic, ferritic, ferritic-austenitic (dual-phase steel), and martensite. Stainless steel used in household items is basically austenitic.

Material properties: health care, anti-corrosion, fine surface treatment, high rigidity, can be formed by various processing techniques, difficult to cold work.

Typical uses: Austenitic stainless steels are mainly used in parts, vessels, pipes, medical equipment and anti-magnetic environments that work in corrosive media. 201 is mainly used to make decorative pipes, industrial pipes and some shallow drawn products; martensitic stainless steel is mainly used to make knives and turbine blades; ferritic stainless steel has corrosion resistance and is mainly used in durable washing machines and boiler parts Medium; Duplex stainless steel has stronger corrosion resistance, so it is often used in aggressive environments.

3. Carbon steel

Carbon steel is an iron-carbon alloy with a carbon content of 0.0218% to 2.11%. Also called carbon steel. Generally, the higher the carbon content in carbon steel, the greater the hardness and the higher the strength, but the lower the plasticity.

Carbon structural steel

Features: low price, excellent process performance (such as weldability and cold formability).

Application: General engineering structure and general mechanical parts. For example, Q235 can be used to make bolts, nuts, pins, hooks and less important mechanical parts, as well as rebars, profiles, and steel bars in building structures.

High quality carbon structural steel

Application: Non-alloy steel for manufacturing important mechanical parts is generally used after heat treatment.

08F, low mass fraction of carbon, good plasticity and low strength, used for stamping parts such as automobile and instrument housing; 20, good plasticity and weldability, used for parts with low strength requirements and carburized parts, such as hood, welding Containers, small shafts, nuts, washers and carburized gears, etc.; 45, 40Mn, good comprehensive mechanical properties after quenching and tempering, used for mechanical parts with large force, such as gears, connecting rods, machine tool spindles, etc.; 60, 65Mn Steel has high strength; used to make various springs, locomotive rims, low-speed wheels.

Carbon Tool Steel

Features: It belongs to eutectoid steel and hypereutectoid steel, with high strength, hardness and good wear resistance. It is suitable for manufacturing various low-speed cutting tools.

Application: T7, T8: To produce parts that require toughness to withstand a certain impact. Such as sledgehammers, punches, chisels, woodworking tools, scissors T9, T10, T11: tools that require high hardness and high wear resistance with low impact. Such as taps, small drills, dies, hand saw blades. T12, T13: Make tools that are immune to impact. Such as files, scrapers, razors, measuring tools.

4. Zinc alloy

Material properties: health care, anti-corrosion, excellent castability, excellent corrosion resistance, high strength, high hardness, cheap raw materials, low melting point, creep resistance, easy to form alloys with other metals, health care, normal temperature Fragile, malleable around 100 degrees Celsius. Zinc has a very low melting point, so it is also an ideal casting material.

Typical uses: electronic product components, hardware products, photo engraving discs, mobile phone antennas and shutter devices in cameras.

5. Aluminum 

Material properties:alloy flexible and malleable, easy to alloy, high strength-to-weight ratio, excellent corrosion resistance, easy to conduct electricity and heat, recyclable.

Typical uses: vehicle skeletons, aircraft parts, kitchen utensils, hardware products, packaging and furniture.

6. Magnesium alloy

Material characteristics: lightweight structure, high rigidity and impact resistance, excellent corrosion resistance, good thermal conductivity and electromagnetic shielding, good non-flammability, poor heat resistance, easy to recycle.

Typical uses: Widely used in aerospace, automotive, electronics, mobile communications, metallurgy and other fields.

7. Copper

Copper is an incredibly versatile metal that is so closely related to our lives. Many of mankind's early tools and weapons were made of copper.

Material characteristics: good corrosion resistance, excellent thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, hardness, flexibility, ductility, unique effect after polishing.

Typical Uses: Wires, engine coils, printed circuits, roofing materials, plumbing materials, heating materials, jewelry, cookware.