To reinforce a house or a building people for centuries have learned how to incorporate a wide range of materials – inorganic materials – into between the bricks and building blocks. These reinforcing materials allow the overall weight to be well spread and distributed across the structural details and onto the ground. Among those, metals play an essential role in keeping the whole building durable. Besides their hardness, metals also offer a certain level of flexibility, unlike concrete when it only provides hardness which could be painlessly crumpled when facing too many vibrations or shakings. An example of these metal applications could be steel bar Malaysia households are using to build up the core structures of the overall building.
Aluminium
Aluminium possessed a silverish outlook that was introduced in 1824 by a Danish chemist and physicist. When first introduced, Aluminium was considered a rare metal that when found in pure form could come in high value like gold and platinum. Fifty years later the metal was used in construction and industrial scales as it was now no longer a rare metal.
Aluminium was named after aluminium sulphates which is an element that exists on the periodic table under the boron group. Its element symbol is Al, making up part of the alloy steel family. By combining carbon steel with other elements like aluminium, copper, nickel, and silicon…, forming alloy steels. Nowadays, aluminium has become one of the most preferable engineering metals due to its durability and lightweight nature.
Similar to any alkali metal, aluminium is rarely found on Earth in its pure form since it is highly reactive. This corrosion-resistant metal exists in over 270 different minerals and can easily form alloys with zinc, copper, magnesium…
Stainless steel
Introduced in 1913 by Harry Bearley, stainless steel is also part of the alloy family and mass manufactured since the 19th century which is made up of a various number of substances.
They mainly consist of carbon and iron with a general amount of 10 to 30 per cent of chromium. Similar to aluminium, stainless steel is well-known for its corrosion resistance, but with added tweaks of heat resistance. Thus, people widely applied it in cooking appliances and inside ovens.
Moreover, people could also add on stainless steel with many more substances and metals to make up a variety of stainless steel families that each has a specified use. These families are Austenitic, Ferritic, Martensitic… Austenitic stainless steel is the most popular family to the wider public.
Besides corrosion and heat resistance, stainless steels are also recyclable, easy to clean, durable, and long-lasting.
Copper
Copper has gone through the course of history with ancient artefacts made from copper dating back to 4500 B.C. when humans learned how to melt this metal. Nowadays, copper makes up the third most consumed metal on Earth due to its surplus in terms of resources and uses. Making copper the most affordable metal on the market with electronics, mining, and construction making up the largest consumers at the moment.
Copper is usually found in volcanic rocks and sedimentary rocks. Its wide applications especially in technology-related sectors resulting from copper produce a fairly high level of electrical conduction and heat thoroughly. Additionally, copper could be eroded and oxidised which will produce blue layers of oxide on their surfaces.
