Most Used Metal in Historical Happenings and Processing of Metals

(To be used for Buildings, Fire arms etc….)

Bronze Age
The first tools produced by humans were made from stone. Around 10000 years ago, humans
started making objects from metals, such as gold, silver and copper. However, these metals are soft and
they were mostly used for jewelry, decorative items and pots and pans for cooking, rather than tools.

This Metal alloy is a mixture of copper and tin, producing Bronze. Its discovery allowed much
stronger and more durable tools to be produced than had been possible before.

Bronze was made by heating the metals tin and copper and mixing them together. As the two
metals melted, they combined to form liquid bronze. This was poured into clay or sand molds and
allowed to cool.
Iron Age
Around 1000 B.C. more widespread production of iron-based objects commenced in both Europe
and Asia. Much of this focused on the manufacture of weaponry, (swords, shields, armor etc) from steels.
Early metallurgists found that very small additions of carbon to iron, combined with heat treatments, lead
to massive increases in strength.

Iron ore is converted into various types of iron through several processes the most common
process is the use of blast furnace to produce pig iron. Basically, the blast furnace is a countercurrent heat
and oxygen exchanger in which rising combustion gas loses most of its heat on the way up, leaving the
furnace at a temperature of about 200° C (390° F), while descending iron oxides are wholly converted to
metallic iron.
Roman Age
When Britain came under Roman control, the ‘Eureka’ moment was the discovery of lead, which
was then used for roofing, building ornaments, water pipes and coffins. Through their quest for metals,
the Romans moved Britain from a primitive region into a world power with law, schools, business,
highways and agriculture. The lead sent them all crazy and is widely believed to have “led” to the fall of
the Roman Empire.
Galena is the most important ore of lead. Silver is often produced as a by-product. Most lead is
consumed in making batteries, however, significant amounts are also used to make lead sheets, pipe and
shot. It is also used to make low-melting-point alloys.

The principal method of extracting lead from galena, which is its

most prominent ore, is done by pyro metallurgical method of roasting
to melting the ore. In other words, the ore is converted to the oxide,
and the oxide reduced with coke in a blast furnace.
Metallurgical coke, along with iron ore and limestone, is layered
into a blast furnace to convert the iron ore to metallic iron. Coke,
which is mostly carbon, reacts with the blast air to produce carbon
monoxide, which, in turn, reacts with the iron oxide to produce carbon
dioxide and metallic iron.

Second Industrial Revolution

The Second Industrial Revolution was a period when advances in steel production, electricity and
petroleum caused a series of innovations that changed society. With the production of cost effective steel,
railroads were expanded and more industrial machines were built.
Steel is made primarily in a two-step process. In the steelmaking step, liquid iron is converted
into steel by the basic oxygen furnace (BOF) process, or by melting scrap steel or direct reduced iron
(DRI) in an electric arc furnace.
 During melting, oxidation of phosphorus, silicon, manganese, carbon, and other materials occurs,
and a slag containing some of these oxidation products forms on top of the molten metal. Oxygen is used
to decarburize the molten steel and provide thermal energy.

Catalyst and Pigment Use of Metal

Catalysts are compounds that speed up chemical reactions by lowering the energy barrier
between reactants and products. Not only do they save energy, they can also help to produce a pure
product instead of a mixture. Transition metals make good catalysts because they can exist as two (or
more) different ions in compounds, for example iron(II) oxide (FeO) and iron(III) oxide (Fe2 O3). The
iron is said to be in different oxidation states in these two compounds.
Catalysts are used in many industrial processes, for example in refining petroleum to break long
chain hydrocarbon molecules into smaller ones, producing ammonia in the Haber process, and
synthesizing drugs for the pharmaceutical industry. Most cars nowadays have a catalytic converter fitted
to reduce the harmful emissions generated by the engine.
Pigment
Any of a group of compounds that are intensely colored and are used to color other materials.
Pigments are insoluble and are applied not as solutions but as finely ground solid particles mixed with a
liquid. In general, the same pigments are employed in oil- and water-based paints, printing inks, and
plastics. Pigments may be organic (i.e., contain carbon) or inorganic.
Metal pigments are luster pigments consisting of platelet-like metallic particles, mostly of
aluminum (so-called silver bronzes), copper, copper/zinc (so-called gold bronzes), and zinc flakes. Metal
effect pigments are used in all relevant application systems such as coatings, paints, plastics, artist paints,
cosmetics, printing inks, leather, construction materials, paper, glass, and ceramics. Specific composition,
particle size distribution and surface quality determine the coloristic and application technical properties
of the individual pigments.
Pigments with toxic heavy metals
The products listed below are not recommended for use in hospitals or schools.
Keep out of reach of children. Do not use during pregnancy.
1. Antimony - Naples Yellow, Antimony, Antimony Red.
Longer cumulative effects can damage the lungs.

2. Lead - Naples Yellow, Lead White, Red Lead, Massicot, Zinc White (white seal), Galena,
Colored glass powder, Lead Tin Yellow. Cumulative effects lead to lead poisoning and
nerve damage.
3. Copper - Azurite, Malachite, Chrysocolla, Verdigris, Egyptian Blue, Han Blue, Ploss Blue, Blue
Verditer, Phthalo Blue and Green. Harmful if inhaled or swallowed.

4. Manganese - Manganese brown, black, gray, violet, purple, umber.

Cumulative effects lead to nerve damage.

5. Nickel - Nickel titanium yellow, Indian yellow imitation.

Cumulative effects damage the kidneys and lead to allergic reactions.