A metal is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typically malleable or ductile. A metal may be a chemical element such as iron, or an alloy such as stainless steel.
Metallic bonding is a type of chemical bonding that rises from the electrostatic attractive force between conduction electrons and positively charged metal ions. It may be described as the sharing of free electrons among a structure of positively charged ions (cations). Metallic bonding accounts for many physical properties of metals, such as strength, ductility, thermal and electrical resistivity and conductivity, opacity, and luster.
The toonie, formally the Canadian two-dollar coin, was introduced on February 19, 1996 by Public Works minister Diane Marleau. As of 2018, it possesses the highest monetary value of any currently circulating Canadian coin. The toonie is a bi-metallic coin which on the reverse side bears an image of a polar bear by artist Brent Townsend. The obverse, like all other current Canadian circulation coins, has a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. It has the words "ELIZABETH II / D.G. REGINA" in a different typeface from any other Canadian coin; it is also the only coin to consistently bear its issue date on the obverse.
The British two pound (£2) coin is a denomination of the pound sterling. Its obverse has featured the profile of Queen Elizabeth II since the coin’s introduction. Three different portraits of the Queen have been used, with the current design by Jody Clark being introduced in 2015. The reverse design features Britannia.
An amorphous metal is a solid metallic material, usually an alloy, with disordered atomic-scale structure. Most metals are crystalline in their solid state, which means they have a highly ordered arrangement of atoms. Amorphous metals are non-crystalline, and have a glass-like structure. But unlike common glasses, such as window glass, which are typically electrical insulators, amorphous metals have good electrical conductivity. There are several ways in which amorphous metals can be produced, including extremely rapid cooling, physical vapor deposition, solid-state reaction, ion irradiation, and mechanical alloying.
The Andorran diner (ADD) is a commemorative currency issued in form of coins intended for collectors and without a legal tender value. A diner is divided into 100 cèntims. The name diner is derived from the Roman currency denarius.
An intermetallic is a type of metallic alloy that forms a solid-state compound exhibiting defined stoichiometry and ordered crystal structure.
Aluminium bronze is a type of bronze in which aluminium is the main alloying metal added to copper, in contrast to standard bronze or brass. A variety of aluminium bronzes of differing compositions have found industrial use, with most ranging from 5% to 11% aluminium by weight, the remaining mass being copper; other alloying agents such as iron, nickel, manganese, and silicon are also sometimes added to aluminium bronzes.
Non-metallic inclusions are chemical compounds and nonmetals that are present in steel and alloys. They are the product of chemical reactions, physical effects, and contamination that occurs during the melting and pouring process. These inclusions are categorized by origin as either endogenous or exogenous. Endogenous inclusions, also known as indigenous, occur within the metal and are the result of chemical reactions. These products precipitate during cooling and are typically very small. Exogenous inclusions are caused by the entrapment of nonmetals. Their size varies greatly and their source can include slag, dross, flux residues, and pieces of the mold.
Bi-metallic coins are coins consisting of two (bi-) metals or alloys, generally arranged with an outer ring around a contrasting center. Common circulating examples include the ₹10, €1, €2, 2 and 5 PLN, 50 CZK, 100 and 200 HUF, 1 and 2 BGN, British £1 and £2, Canadian $2, South African R5, Turkish 1 lira, IDR 1K, Hong Kong $10, Argentine $1, Brazilian R$1, Chilean $100 and $500, Colombian $500 and $1000, and all Mexican coins of $1 or higher denomination.
In chemistry or mining, polymetal or polymetallic is a substance composed of a combination of different metals. When the substance contains only two metals the term bimetal (bimetallic) is sometimes preferred. A polymetallic ore is an ore that is the source of more than one metal suitable for recovery. A mine containing polymetallic ore is a polymetallic mine. Polymetallic nodules are concretions of manganese and iron found on the ocean floor. They are sometimes called manganese nodules, after their principal component.
Antitaenite is a meteoritic metal alloy mineral composed of iron and nickel, 20–40% Ni that has a face centered cubic crystal structure.
An infinite switch, simmerstat, energy regulator or infinite controller is a type of switch that allows variable power output of a heating element of an electric stove. It is called "infinite" because its average output is infinitely variable rather than being limited to a few switched levels. It uses a bi-metallic strip conductive connection across terminals that disconnects with increased temperature. As current passes through the bimetal connection, it will heat and deform, breaking the connection and turning off the power. After a short time, the bimetal will cool and reconnect. Therefore, infinite switches vary the average power delivered to a device by oscillating quickly between on and off states. They may be used for situations that are not sensitive to such changes, such as the resistive heating elements in electric stoves and kilns.
Bismuth is a chemical element with symbol Bi and atomic number 83. It is a pentavalent post-transition metal and one of the pnictogens with chemical properties resembling its lighter homologs arsenic and antimony. Elemental bismuth may occur naturally, although its sulfide and oxide form important commercial ores. The free element is 86% as dense as lead. It is a brittle metal with a silvery white color when freshly produced, but surface oxidation can give it a pink tinge. Bismuth is the most naturally diamagnetic element, and has one of the lowest values of thermal conductivity among metals.
AlBeMet is the trade name for a beryllium and aluminium metal matrix composite material derived by a powder metallurgy process. AlBeMet AM162 is manufactured by Materion Corporation Brush Beryllium and Composites.
The coinage metals comprise, at a minimum, those metallic chemical elements which have historically been used as components in alloys used to mint coins. The term is not perfectly defined, however, since a number of metals have been used to make "demonstration coins" which have never been used to make monetized coins for any nation-state, but could be. Some of these elements would make excellent coins in theory, but their status as coin metals is not clear. In general, because of problems caused when coin metals are intrinsically valuable as commodities, there has been a trend in the 21st century toward use of coinage metals of only the least exotic and expensive types.
