US1490696A - Zinc alloy - Google Patents

Description

Patented Apr. 15, 1924.

Miran STATES mom? a. n: GOLYEE, or new YORK, n. Y.

zmc ALLOY.

Ho Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANTHONY G. DE GoLYnR, citizen of the United States, and resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Zinc Alloys, of which the following is a specification.

This invention comprises a new alloy containing as essential components zinc and boron, and which may contain copper, calcium, tin, aluminum, ead, nickel, iron manganese, or other additional metals or metalloids; and distinguished from the heretofore known zinc alloys by its composition and by the possession of improved and advantageous properties.

I have found that by alloying zinc with a relatively small percentage of boron, e. g., 15 per cent or less of the weight of the final alloy, I can produce alloys which possess materially higher tensile strength, degree of hardness and greater resistanceto oxidation and corrosion than zinc or any previously known zinc alloys. Furthermore, the alloys of this invention yield ingots or castings which are remarkably dense and free of blow holes and inclusions of slag or other impurities. These alloys melt at comparatively low temperatures, have a low factor. of shrinkage, and, in general, the specific gravity is materially lower than that of zinc or'many heretofore known zinc alloys. The fact that they may be readily cast in sand or metal molds, in addition to the above cited advantages, renders the alloys of this invention of particular value for use in the form of castings.

These alloys, are not brittle," but may be readily forged, rolled, drawn, or otherwise worked up into bars, rods, wire, sheets, tubes, or other forms. In many instances these alloys possess valuable electrical properties, such for example, as electrical resistance elements. In general, the tensile strength, degree of hardness, resistance to wear, oxidatlon and corrosion, and electrical resistance, as well as various other properties, may be regulated more or less by varying the percentage of boron inthe alloy. However, while it is apparently of advantage to have boron present in the amount of several per cent in certain of the alloys, there are many instanceswhere the presence of fractional percentages of boron. 1. e., less than one per cent of the weight of the final or zinc alloys,

Application filed April 26, 1923. Serial No. 884,851.

alloy, will impart thereto materially improved and advantageous properties and characteristics. For example, boron or boron containing alloys or com-pounds may be used to degasify and'purify molten zinc and in this manner there may be produced zinc or zinc alloys which contain only fractional percentages of boron, and which possess materially improved properties and characteristics.

I have further found that many alloys containing zinc and boron and one or. more additional metals or metalloids also possess improved and advantageous properties, and are valuable formany industrlal applications. While the properties of such alloys may, in many instances, be more or less similar to those possessed'by the alloys containing only zinc and boron, it may frequently.be desirable to use varying amounts of one or more additional elements, such, for illustration, as to more or less supplant a-portion of the zincor b'oron for the purpose of economy or otherwise; to raise .or lower the specific gravity; to increase or decrease the melting point; or to give a different color or appearance to the alloy. Thus, for example, I make use of alloys containing zinc and boron and varying percentages of any one or more metals or. metalloids such as aluminum, calcium. and co'pper, for the productioaof ingots, castings, bearings, bars, wire, rods, plates, or other semi-finished or finished articles of manufacture.

In certain of the alloys calcium may ap parently be'utilized'to supplant a portion of the boron for imparting to the alloy definite mechanical or other properties. for the pur ose f securing sound ingots or castings an the production of adesired alsheets, tubes,-

Thus,

loy I may add calcium or any calcium conuse" of tent may be as low as 0.01% or lower of Y the weight of the alloy, and in certain cases it may be present in amounts up to 15% of the weight of the alloy. Alloys containing zinc, boron and calcium, and which may also contain one or more additional elements, may be readily machined, rolled, drawn, forged, stamped or otherwise worked, and also yield castings and ingots which are remarkably sound and dense.

Additional alloys within the scope of this invention which are particularly suitable for castings, forgings, stamp-ings, wire, rods, bars, sheets, tubes, or other manufactured articles, may contain, for illustration, zinc to 99%,-boron 0.01 to 15%, and copper 0.05 to 29%; zinc 65 to 99%, boron 0;01 to 15%, copper 0.05 to 29% and c lcium 0.01 to 15%; zinc.65 to 99%, boron 0.01 to 15%, and aluminum 0.05 "LOB 1%; zinc 65 to 99%, boron 0.01 to 15%, aluminum 0.05 to 34%, and calcium 0.01 to 15%,; zinc 65 to 99%, boron 0.01 to 15%, and nickel 0.05 to 25%; zinc 65 to 99%, boron 0.01 to 15%, nickel 0.05 to 2 5%, and copper 0.05 to25%; zinc 65 to 99%, boron 0.01 to 15%, copper 0.05 to 25%, and aluminum 0.05 to 25%.

It is thus possible to utilize a wide range of zinc and boron containing alloys and these may contain principally zinc and boron with only small or fractional percentages of other metals or metalloids in-the nature of impurities, or they may contain as principal components, in addition to zinc and boron, any; one or more of the hereinbefore mentioned metals or metalloids, alloyed or otherwise combined therewith.

While many of the alloys of the present invention are'especially suitable for one or more definite applications it will be apparent that many of them may be utilized for many different purposes and therefore I do not wish to be confined in the use and application of the alloys comprised in this invention to any specific or particular purpose.

The alloys containing only zinc and boron or alloys containing one or more additional elements may be produced by a number of different methods. .In general, in making alloys of zinc and boron I usually prefer to melt metallic zinc and add thereto boron or a suitable boron containing alloy, such for example, as a zinc boride. Similarly, in the production of alloys containing zinc and boron and one or more additional metals or metalloids I usually prefer to melt metallic zinc and to add thereto the additional element or elements, and then add the boron, or boron containing material. In this manner, boron or boron containing materials may be utilized for degasifying and purifying the alloy as well as for supplying one of the principal components.

However, the sequence in which the components of the alloys of this invention may be melted and alloyed or otherwise combined is subject to variation and modification and consequently I do not wish to be limited to any particular order for the 1,490,,eee

melting and incorporation of the principal components. Thus, I may melt any one ofthe principal components and add thereto the other component or components in any order desired, and such additional component or components may be added cold, preheated or molten. Also I may melt any two or more of the components more or less simultaneously within the same furnace or crucible, or I may melt any two or more of the components separately and intermix them while they are molten, as for example, in the pro duction of an alloy containing zinc, boron and copper, I may melt metallic zinc and an alloy containing boron and copper in. the same furnace; or, as a further illustration, in the production of an alloy containing zinc, boron, aluminum, and calcium, I may melt, in separate furnaces or crucibles, metallic zinc and an alloy containing boron, calcium and aluminum, and subsequently intermix the proper proportions of the molten mctallics to form the desired alloy.

I am aware that it has heretofore been either impossible from a metallurgical standpoint or commercially uneconomical to produce various proposed alloys of zinc-with certain metals, particularly with metals having relatively low specific gravities and melt ing oints and at the same time having relative y high heats of formation with oxygen or other non-metallic elements, such for example, as magnesium, calcium or aluminum. Also in certain instances it has been found either difficult or impossible to efifect the formation of a true alloy or solid solution of zinc with one or more other elements. I have found that such metallurgical and other difficulties are either largely or entirely overcome by using zinc containing boron, within the limits of this invention. The presence of, boron apparently aids in the dissolution of metals or metalloids in molten zinc and further acts to aid in efi'ecting uniform alloys or solid solutions.

I claim:

v-1. An alloy containing principally zinc and boron in effective amounts up to 15%.

2. An alloy containingsubstantially zinc 84.5 to 99.99% and boron in effective amounts up to 15%.

3. An alloy containing substantially zinc 70 to 99.98%, boron in effective amounts up to 15%, and calcium in effective amounts up to 15%.

.4. An alloy containing substantially zinc 65 to 99.94%, boron in effective amounts up to 15%, and copper in effective amounts up to 29.5%.

5. An alloy containing substantially zinc 65 to 99%, boron in effective amounts up to 15%, calcium in effective amounts up to 15%, and copper in effective amounts up I 6. An alloy containing substantially zinc 65 to 99%, boron in effective amounts-up"' Signed at New York, in the county of to 15%, copper in effective amounts up to New York andi State of New York, this 29%, and aluminum in effective amounts up day of April, A. D. 1923. n to 29%. I

5 7. An alloy containing substantially zinc ANTHONY DE 'V 65% or over, boron in efl'ective amounts up Witnesses to 15%, and copper, calcium, and alumini- C. E. PETERSON, um each, in effective amounts up to 29%. Tnos. STACK.