Article
Article
Metal
Article By:
Greenfield, Irwin G. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware.
Last reviewed:January 2021
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.417800
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A solid or liquid (molten), opaque material with a lustrous surface and good electrical and thermal conductivities. Solid metal is usually crystalline and ductile and can be permanently deformed by shear on crystal planes (Fig. 1); permanent deformation at temperatures below about 35–40% of the absolute melting point is accompanied by an increase in strength from strain or work hardening. Metallic properties are related to the arrangements of positively charged ions bonded through a surrounding field (sea) of free electrons that draw the ions into a close-packed crystalline structure with planes appropriate for slip. Liquids are nearly close packed, noncrystalline, with a thermal energy great enough to activate random, free movements of atoms. See also: Liquid
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