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.

1 2

Foil
Cooking Foil, Kitchen Foil, Tin Foil

Cold rolled aluminium flat product less than 250 microns in thickness. Usage includes kitchen foil (cooking foil) and foil trays for food. Kitchen Foil is often incorrectly referred to as Tin Foil.
Forging

Hot working using a forge with shaped tools that ‘hammers’ the work-piece into a predetermined shape.
Fracture Test
Charpy 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.
Free Machining
Free Cutting, High Speed Machining

Terms that are used interchangeably to describe materials that can be turned, drilled or otherwise machined using high cutting speeds and feeds to leave a good surface finish with low tool wear and no appreciable build-up of swarf around the cutting tool. The addition of Lead to Copper alloys usually improves machinability. The brass CW614N (CZ121 Pb3) has one of the fastest rates of metal removal, but ductility is compromised. This brass sets the machinability standard against which the machinability of all other alloys are measured.
Free Machining Alloy (FMA)

An alloy designed to give, when machined, small broken chips, lower power consumption, better surface finish and/or longer tool life. Chemical composition and microstructure both influence this property.
Free Machining Stainless Steels

Many standard compositions of stainless also have a “free machining” variant with enhanced machinability. This is achieved by adding small amounts of certain alloying elements to the steel during melting. These added elements produce inclusions in the microstructure that act as chip breakers and can also lubricate the cutting action, increasing cutting speeds by approximately 75% on stainless steel. Sulphur is particularly good for heavy machining because of the large and fairly continuous inclusions. Selenium additions have also been used, especially in the USA, but are not available from European suppliers. Unfortunately addition of these elements has a negative effect on other properties, notably Corrosion Resistance in the case of added Sulphur. For this reason the more recently developed IMA grades are preferred.
Related Terms: IMA – Improved Machinability Alloy
Fretting
Traffic Marks

Abrasions, usually dark in colour, resulting from relative movement, or rubbing, between contacting metal surfaces during transit.
Full Heat Treatment

For alloys in the 2xxx, 6xxx, 7xxx and 8xxx series this is the heat treatment cycle consisting of solution treatment followed by artificial age hardening.

1 2

Metal Glossary

Metal Glossary

Contact Us

Cashmores.com

PRODUCTS & SERVICES

ABOUT US

TECHNICAL DATA

LEGAL