Lead
Lead: Ingot, Bricks and Sheet
Applications
X-ray Radiation Shielding & Protection, Plumbing, Roofing, and Ballast
All Lead Products
Description
Lead’s properties – high density, low melting point, corrosion resistance, malleability, unusual electrical properties and ability to form useful alloys and chemical compounds – combined with its readily available forms and relative low cost, make it a unique material for solution of a variety of problems. The malleability of lead (and most of its alloys) allows it to be rolled to any desired thickness. The low melting point of lead, 621 degrees Fahrenheit, makes it one of the simplest metals to cast at about 700 degrees Fahrenheit. It is used in massive counterweights, in sailboat keels and as tiny die castings in instruments.
Tin-lead solder alloys:
A pure metal always melts at a single temperature. When referring to tin-lead solders, the tin content is customarily given first, for example, 40/60 refers to 40% tin and 60% lead by weight.
The solders containing less than 5% tin are used for sealing precoated containers. General purpose solders are 40/60 and 50/50. Soldering of automobile radiator cores, plumbing, electrical and electrical connections, roofing seams and heating units are but a few of the typical uses for these solders.
The 60/40 and 63/37 alloys are used when components are heat sensitive and where minimum heat should be used to make solder joints.
Lead has such a successful record of service in exposure to the atmosphere and to water that its resistance to corrosion by these media is often taken for granted.
