Materials

All of our projects start off as raw materials whether they be sheet, bar, round or square. During the course you will need to be able to select the correct materials for each project you are working on. During your exam you will need to show knowledge of a variety of common metalworking materials shown:

Ferrous metals (steel, high carbon steel, iron)
Non-ferrous metals (aluminium, copper, nickel)
Alloys (bronze, brass, stainless steel)
Common sections (square bar, round bar, hexagonal bar, angle iron, tube)
Sheet materials (tin plate, copper, brass, steel, aluminium)
Common metals associated with different fabrication and joining techniques

Metals can be divided into 2 main categories: Ferrous and Non-Ferrous. Ferrous comes from the word Ferrum which is Latin for Iron and so metals which are 'Ferrous' are those which contain Iron; non-Ferrous metals have no Iron.

Metals can also be described as either pure, or alloyed. Pure metals, as the name suggests, have nothing added. Alloys combine several different metals or elements to improve certain properties.

The document to the right provides more information:

Materials-Metals.pdf