Metal Glossary

Designed to be a quick reference guide for customers, the Cashmores glossary provides definitions of the latest metal industry terms.

Metal Glossary

Designed to be a quick reference guide for customers, the Cashmores glossary provides definitions of the latest metal industry terms.
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  • Bayer Process
    A chemical process used to refine the aluminium ore bauxite into alumina (aluminium oxide) from which the aluminium metal can be extracted by smelting
  • Bend Radius
    The radius of curvature of the former around which a specimen is bent.
  • Bend Test
    The bending of a specimen to conform with a predetermined radius and angle, to assess bending characteristics and ductility.
  • Blank
    A work-piece prepared for subsequent processing e.g. by forming, bending, cupping, drawing, impact extrusion, pressing, etc.
  • Bloom, Billet
    Cast aluminium in the form of large round (or occasionally square) bars.
  • Bow
    The deviation of the edges from the true longitudinal axis of a product seen as an arc.
  • Brinell Hardness
    Hardness, Rockwell Hardness, Vickers Hardness
    The resistance of a metal to plastic deformation usually by indentation using a diamond or a hardened steel ball. There are various recognised hardness scales including Vickers (VPN), Brinell and Rockwell. N.B. The empirical, but robust, relationship between hardness and tensile properties that applies in steels does not apply, and the steel tables must not be used for aluminium and its alloys. A less rigorous relationship has been established for some aluminium alloys but it is not widely used.
  • Buckle
    Ripple
    The variation in flatness represented by alternate bulges and hollows along the length of a rolled product, the edges of which remain reasonably flat.
  • Busbars
    Bar or section for use as a common junction between electrical circuits.
  • Cast
    Heat, Melt
    These terms are used interchangeably to refer to the product of a single melting furnace charge. Sometimes the furnace contents are tapped into two or more ladles when the product of each ladle may be called a separate cast. It is always assumed that the chemical composition of an entire cast will be uniform. This is described as the “cast analysis” on a Certificate of Conformity etc.
  • Charpy Test
    Fracture Test, Impact Test, Izod Test
    A test in which the test piece is notched and broken. The fracture surface examined to assess grain structure and freedom from defects. Also used to determine toughness, often at varying temperatures to establish at what reduced temperature the material becomes brittle.
  • Chemical Brightening
    A chemical treatment to improve the specular reflectivity of a surface.
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