Nonferrous metals, also known as non-ferrous metals in a narrow sense, are all metals except iron, manganese and chromium. In a broad sense, non-ferrous metals also include non-ferrous alloys.
Nonferrous alloy is a kind of alloy which takes a nonferrous metal as the matrix (usually more than 50%) and adds one or several other elements. Non ferrous metals generally refer to all metals except iron (and sometimes manganese and chromium) and iron-based alloys. Non ferrous metals can be divided into heavy metals (such as copper, lead, zinc), light metals (such as aluminum, magnesium), precious metals (such as gold, silver, platinum) and rare metals (such as tungsten, molybdenum, germanium, lithium, lanthanum, uranium).
The strength and hardness of non-ferrous alloy are generally higher than that of pure metal, the resistance is larger than that of pure metal, the resistance temperature coefficient is smaller, and it has good comprehensive mechanical properties. The commonly used non-ferrous alloys are aluminum alloy, copper alloy, magnesium alloy, nickel alloy, tin alloy, tantalum alloy, titanium alloy, zinc alloy, molybdenum alloy, zirconium alloy, etc.
Due to the importance of rare metals in modern industry, they are sometimes separated from non-ferrous metals into a single category. In parallel with ferrous metals and non-ferrous metals, it has become the three major categories of metals
Nonferrous metals are the basic materials for the development of national economy. Most industries, such as aviation, aerospace, automobile, machinery manufacturing, electric power, communication, construction, home appliances, etc., are based on nonferrous metals. With the rapid development of modern chemical industry, agriculture and science and technology, non-ferrous metals play an increasingly important role in human development. It is not only an important strategic material and means of production in the world, but also an indispensable material of consumption in human life.
China is rich in non-ferrous metal resources and has a complete variety. The reserves of 7 kinds of metals, such as tungsten and rare earth, rank first in the world; the reserves of 5 kinds of metals, such as lead, nickel, mercury, molybdenum and niobium, are also quite rich. Among the mineral resources, nonferrous metals are a major advantage of China.
