If you ask a random stranger what metallurgical services in Gastonia, NC are or what they encompass, you’re likely going to get a lot of blank looks and confused answers. For those few people who are actually able to tell you what metallurgy entails, it’s not likely that you’re going to get an answer that delves very deep into the world of metallurgy. But this brings about a bigger question: what role exactly does metallurgy play in our society today?
To understand metallurgical services in Gastonia, NC and their tremendous importance, we actually have to trace the concept of treating metals back to a broader subject, called material sciences. Material sciences encompasses both metals and non-metals, as well as the different subgroups of these items. For example:
- Metals: To understand metals, it needs to be understood that there are two chief types—ferrous and non-ferrous. If we dive deeper, we’ll find different types of metals that belong to each group, such as steel and iron (ferrous), and aluminum, magnesium and copper (non-ferrous). There are even non-ferrous sub groups for different types of metals, such as light metals, super alloys and others. Together these groups and subgroups form a web that encompasses all metals.
- Non-metals: Just for juxtaposition purposes, since metallurgy focuses exclusively on metals, it’s important to realize what other groups of materials exist under the material sciences umbrella. Chiefly, these are plastics, composites and ceramics.
Now, when we get down to the bread and butter of what metallurgical services in Gastonia, NC actually are and apply to, we must consider the entire gamut of metals. It’s a metallurgist’s job to manipulate metals, to ensure that they can be tailored to meet the specific needs of a practical application. In fact, today’s society is largely the product of metallurgical advances in history—from the reinforced steel that we use to build our skyscrapers, to the various tempered metals that are used to construct our vehicles.
By manipulating the gamut of metals and understanding the various ways that they can be treated using heat, pressure and chemicals, metallurgists can continue to innovate in the numerous areas of practical metal applications, paving the way for more ingenious inventions, more cost-effective applications and anything else that might excel the final product.
Even within metallurgy, there are numerous areas of study and expertise:
- Mineral processing, which involves gathering natural metals from the earth’s crust.
- Extractive metallurgy, which focuses on the separation and concentration of raw materials to form a more comprehensive metal product.
- Physical metallurgy, which involves changing the composition of metal through treatments that induce hardening, carburization and more.
As you can plainly see, metallurgy spans the gamut of dealing with metal—from the raw ores that serve as the foundation for mineral processing, to the tempered and treated metals that we use in practical applications, which are the result of physical metallurgical services in Gastonia, NC. Even for people who grasp the concept of what metallurgy is and why it’s important, the far reaching importance of metallurgy is expansive and generally unknown to most!