Alloy Formation

What an alloy is

An alloy is a blend of metals, prepared by mixing the molten components together. Many alloys are homogeneous solid solutions, in which the atoms of one metal are distributed randomly among the atoms of the other — essentially, one metal's atoms substitute for the other's throughout the lattice.

Why transition metals readily form alloys

This kind of random substitution is only possible when the two metals' atoms are close enough in size to swap places in the same lattice: alloys of this homogeneous, solid-solution type are formed by atoms whose metallic radii are within about 15 percent of each other.

Transition metals, as a family, tend to have similar atomic/metallic radii and similar other characteristics, and so they readily form alloys with one another. The alloys produced this way are typically hard and often have high melting points, exceeding those of the individual pure metals.

Examples …