preview

Essay Metal And Architecture

Decent Essays
Open Document

Metal and architecture has evolved over centuries, with successive eras opening up new technical and elegant possibilities through the development of different types of metals. Metals are dense, lustrous materials that are highly conductive of heat and electricity. Some facts about metals are that they are generally ductile, meaning that they can be hammered thin or drawn into wires. Metals can also be liquified by heating and then resolidified by cooling. Presently metals are the strongest building materials in common use. Found in nature, metals come in the form of oxide ores, meaning they are a compound of oxygen mixed with a mineral containing a valuable constituent such as metal. Metals can also corrode and wear away by oxidation. …show more content…

Cast iron, the great material of the Industrial Revolution, revolutionized Georgian and Victorian buildings. The protection of metal includes galvanizing, tern plating, plating and anodizing. Galvanizing protects metal or steel against the exposure to the atmosphere and rusting. It is applied by an application of zinc coating. Tern plating is a steel sheet with a coating of tern metal which is an alloy of led and tin. This is applied by dipping the steel into molten metal. An example of what you would use tern plating for would be roofing, gutters, gas tanks, oil cans, etc.. Another way to protect metal is plating. Plating is the coating of metal or other material such as plastic or china, with a hard, nonporous, metallic surface to improve durability. Most plating is done for decorative purposes, but still more is done to increase durability and corrosion resistance. An example of where you would use plating would be on auto parts, housewares, hardware, plumbing/electrical equipment and machine tools. Anodizing is another method of protecting metal. It is a method of coating metal for corrosion resistance, electrical insulation, thermal control, abrasion resistance, sealing, improving paint adhesion, decorative finishing. This is applied by electrically depositing an oxide film onto the surface of a metal usually aluminum. Aluminum, after it has been anodized can also be

Get Access