Alloy
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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An alloy is a mixture or metallic solid solution composed of two or more elements. An alloy will contain one or more of the three: a solid solution of the elements (a single phase); a mixture of metallic phases (two or more solutions); an intermetallic compound with no distinct boundary between the phases. Solid solution alloys give a single solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or more phases that may or may not be homogeneous in distribution, depending on the thermal (heat treatment) history of the material. An intermetallic compound will have another alloy or pure metal embedded within another pure metal. Alloys are used as their properties are superior to those of the pure component elements.
Examples of alloys are solder, brass, pewter, phosphor bronze and amalgam.
The alloy constituents are usually measured by mass. Alloys are usually classified as substitutional or interstitial alloys, depending on the atomic arrangement that forms the alloy. They can be further classified as homogeneous (consisting of a single phase), or heterogeneous (consisting of two or more phases) or intermetallic (where there is no distinct boundary between phases).
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