Answer:
Alloys are metal mixtures with other elements, the precise combination of which is governed by the properties required. In general, alloys are considered metallic in nature, i.e. they have good thermal and electrical conductivity.
- An alloy is a combination of metal and non-metal. So it has partial characteristics of metal and non-metal.
- Being an alloy the ions are randomly arranged.
- It does not have a specific arrangement of ions. Hence the flow of electrons in this is more. This feature of the alloy leads to an increase in resistivity due to free crystal lattice.
- Metals have a high melting point but an alloy has a low melting point because the presence of a non-metal in it behaves as an impurity and restricts in raising to a high melting point.
- Due to the high melting point, it takes a lot of currents to melt and leads to slow movement of electrons which makes the device less efficient.
- Therefore electronic device requires metal of a low melting point.
- An alloy plays the best role in an electronic device like electric iron and heater.
Examples of alloys
Some commercially important alloys are:
- Steel
- Nichrome
- Bronze
- Brass
- Duralumin
- Solder
