Take your piece of metal and test its magnetization by sticking a magnet to it. If your metal sticks to the magnet, the metal could be cast iron or steel. If the metal does not stick to the magnet, your metal could be copper, brass, solver or aluminum.

5 Most Popular Types of Metals & Their Uses

• Steel. Steel is an iron alloy enriched with around 1% carbon and it is generally free of the impurities and residues that can otherwise be found in iron.
• Aluminum. Aluminum is a highly durable, light-weight and corrosion-resistant metal derived from its ore bauxite.
• Zinc.
• Bronze.

Popular Metal Alloys

• 304 Stainless Alloys. This non-magnetic is versatile and most widely used stainless steel alloy. It has lower carbon content to reduce carbide precipitation and is used in high-temperature applications.
• 316 Stainless Alloys. This alloy is the second best grade after 304.

You can identify an unknown substance by measuring its density and comparing your result to a list of known densities. Density = mass/volume. Assume that you have to identify an unknown metal. You can determine the mass of the metal on a scale.

Take your coin or piece of jewelry, and place a strong magnet on top of the object. Slowly tilt your metal item to see if the magnet sticks to the object by the magnetic pull, or if it slides off onto the ground. If the metal attracts the magnet, you know it must be an alloy mixture and not a precious metal.

copper

Steel is less malleable and harder than mild steel. Mild steel can be further strengthened through the addition of carbon. The basic difference is that s/s has very little carbon and is alloyed with chromium, nickel, molybdenum and other elements to improve its mechanical and chemical properties.

The Four Types of Steel Carbon Steel is divided into three subgroups depending on the amount of carbon in the metal: Low Carbon Steels/Mild Steels (up to 0.3% carbon), Medium Carbon Steels (0.3–0.6% carbon), and High Carbon Steels (more than 0.6% carbon).

MS (Mild Steel) pipes or tubes contain a small amount of carbon (0.18% or less) steel.

Hardness and Strength: Mild steel (MS) is less harder than that of Stainless steel (SS) as stainless steel reduces hydro-corrosion and increases the hardness of the steel. But this makes it less ductile.

Main alloying element This is the main factor that distinguishes mild steel from stainless steel. Mild steel is alloyed using carbon whereas stainless steel has chromium as its alloying element. The 2 different alloys produce very different results in corrosion resistance, malleability and ease of fabrication and cost.

carbon steels

Stainless steel is used in the kitchen accessories, cutlery and cookware. Less ductile grades of steel are used to make knife blades with sharp edges. More ductile grades of steel are used for items that have to be molded into shape such as cookers, grills, sinks and saucepans.

Unfortunately, stainless steel equipment tends to be more expensive than other materials, such as aluminum. Further, stainless steel is more durable, and maintenance is easier, so — years down the line — you may find that the overall cost evens out. …