This is to certify that

Miss Devanshi .N.Vyas has

performed the experiment on

“STUDY OF CONSTITUENTS OF ALLOYS ”

as part of her Chemistry investigatory

Project under my supervision.

Mr.A.K.Jha
K.V no.1,
Gandhinagar.
It gives me great pleasure & deep
satisfaction in presenting this
Chemistry Project.

I take this opportunity to be

thankful to several people with
whose help & encouragement , I
have completed this project
successfully.

I would like to thank Mr.A.K.Jha

for his able guidance, valuable
suggestions & continuous
encouragement during the time of
the performance of the project.
I also wish to put my deepest
sense of appreciation & thanks to
Mr.Deepak Singh . His motivation
helped me to work productively &
efficiently.

I am very grateful to my parents

for
their constant & loving support.
Finally, there are some special
people without whose support
this project would have never
come
to fruition whose name might
not appear in this formal
acknowledgement.
Devanshi N.Vyas

INTRODUCTion
An alloy is a homogenous mixture of
two or more metals or a metal & a
non metal. An alloy of mercury with
another metal is called an amalgam.
Most familiar metals are not of very
high purity : impurity atoms are
added intentionally, thus forming an
alloy. Alloying is used in metals to
improve their mechanical strength,
electrical & magnetic properties,
resistance to corrosion , & many other
characteristics. Alloys are usually
harder than their components but
very often less ductile & less
malleable. The melting point of an
alloy is always lower than the melting
points of its constituent metals. Other
properties such as reactivity towards
As reactivity towards atmospheric
oxygen & moisture, mechanical
strength, ductility, colour etc.also
undergo a change when an alloy is
made from its constituent metals.
 When elements are mixed to make
an alloy, the metallic element present
in the largest amount by weight is
called the parent metal & the others
are the alloying agents. The alloying
agents are dissolved in the parent
metal but do not combine chemically
with it. Instead, they also arrange
themselves in a regular pattern filling
the spaces between the atoms of the
parent metal without disturbing its
basic atomic structure.

APPLICATION OF
ALLOYS
IN
 MODERN SOCIETY
Alloys have become an indispensible
part of our daily life. Historically,
alloys have played an extremely vital
role in the development of civilization
as we see it today (The Bronze Age
being the most vital among these).
They have penetrated into all sections
of our life & have changed the face of
modern society in a unique manner.
An alloy can be made to match a
predetermined set of characteristics
for a specific purpose. This is very
useful in designs of rockets,spacecraft
& supersonic aircrafts.
Alloys of heat-resistance metals like
tantalum, niobium, tungsten ,cobalt &
nickel & lightweight ones like
aluminium & titanium have been
developed specially for these
purposes. Alloys of boron, hafnium,
zirconium find use in nuclear reactors
& niobium-tin in semiconductors &
nickel in desalination plants.
Alloys have applications in
everyday life too. Utensils in the
kitchen , machinery & tools in
industry, transport facilities...the
list is endless. After a few cuts , the
blade of an ordinary iron knife loses
its edge & becomes dull. Now take a
knife made of stainless steel (just
adding 10-20% chromium) & see how
long it lasts!
In the field of medicine, alloys have
become indispensible. From fillings to
braces on one’s teeth, the dentist
uses alloys. Every prosthetic(artificial)
implant consists of strong &
lightweight alloys.
Thus, in small but extremely
significant ways, alloys are
revolutionizing our society by
providing economical & effective
alternatives to pure metals.
Some common alloys:
Alloy Composition
Brass Copper 50-90%
Zinc 20-40%
Bronze Copper 60-90%
Tin 5-35%
Gun Copper 85-90%
metal Zinc 1-3%
Tin 8-12%

Alloys are generally made to serve the

following purposes :
• To modify chemical reactivity:
 When sodium is used as reducing
agent it is too reactive to be used
but its alloy with mercury, called
sodium amalgam can be safely
used as reducing agent.
• To increase hardness: Hardness of
gold is increased by adding copper
to it.
• To increase tensile strength :
Nickeloy , an alloy of nickel(1%),
copper(4%) & aluminium(95%) has
high tensile strength.
• To lower the melting point :
Solder metal which is an alloy of
tin (30%) & lead(70%) has very less
melting point as compared to
melting points of tin & lead.
• To modify the colour : Aluminium
bronze, an alloy of copper &
 aluminium has beautiful golden
colour.
• To resist corrosion : Iron gets
rusted & corroded. Its corrosion
takes place with time but stainless
steel which is an alloy of iron &
carbon does not get rusted.

Alloys are prepared from the

metals by the techniques of fusion,
compression or simultaneous
electrodeposition. The complete
analysis, the components of the
alloy are found out & in
quantitative analysis their
percentage composition is
determined. In the present project
we will carry out qualitative
analysis only.
Objective of project
In this project, our aim is to know
the various metals present in the
given sample of alloy.

Experiment
OBJECTIVE
To analyse a given sample of alloy
& to identify the presence of metal
ions in it by qualitative analysis.

REQUIREMENTS
China dish, test-tubes, funnel,
filter paper, common laboratory
reagents, tripod stand, burner,
glass rod, tongs, test tube stand,
conc.HNO3, conc. HCl, all
chemicals used in salt analysis.
THEORY
A small piece of brass is dissolved
in 50% HNO3 when metals gets
converted to their nitrates. After
the removal of excess nitric acid,
the solution is tested for Cu+2 &
Zn+2 ions.
4Zn + 10HNO3
4Zn(NO3)2 +N2O +5H2O
3Cu + 8 HNO3
3Cu(NO3)2+4H2O+2NO

The sample of Indian coin & solder

wire is decomposed using aqua
regia & then tested for the
presence of Pb+2,Sn+2,Cu+2 & Fe+3.
PROCEDURE
For brass:
• Place a small piece of brass in a
china dish & heat this with
minimum quantity of 50%HNO3
so as to dissolve the piece
completely.
• Continue heating the solution
till a dry solid residue is
obtained.
• Dissolve solid residue in dil.HCl
& filter .Add distilled water to
the filtrate.
• Pass H2S gas through the
filtrate. A black precipitate of
copper sulphide is obtained.
Separate the black ppt. & keep
the filtrate for the test of Zn+2
ions. Dissolve black ppt by
heating it with 50% HNO3. To
this solution add ammonium
hydroxide solution. Appearance
of deep blue colour in solution
shows the presence of copper
ions in the solution.
• To test for Zn+2 ions, boil the
filtrate to remove H2S gas, then
add solid NH4Cl to this & heat to
dissolve NH4Cl.Add excess of
NH4OH so that the solution is
ammoniacal. Now pass H2S gas
through it. Dirty white or grey
 ppt. indicates zinc. Separate
the ppts & dissolve in minimum
amount of dil.HCl. Boil to expel
H2S gas & add potassium
ferrocyanide solution,white or
bluish white ppt confirms Zn+2
ions in the solution.
For Solder wire & Indian Coin:

• Take the alloy sample (about 2

gms) & treat it with 25 ml of
concentrated nitric acid in a
China dish in the fume chamber ,
warming gently until the evolution
of fumes ceases.
• If yhe alloy dissolves completely,
add 25 ml water to the china dish
& filter the contents.
• If the alloy remains partially
undissolved , dissolve the alloy
again in 20 ml aqua regia(15 ml
conc.hydrochloric acid & 5 ml
conc. Nitric acid).
• Heat in the fume chamber until
the alloy dissolves completely.
Evaporate to dryness on a water
bath very carefully.
• Add 5 ml. of conc. Hydrochloric
acid to solution, heat & dilute with
15 ml water. Cool & filter.
• Perform the systematic
procedure of basic radical
detection, with the various wet
tests according to the scheme(as
outlined below).
1.substance under
analysis:SOLDER WIRE
Solubility : soluble in conc.nitric
acid
Observation : Yellowish solution
Obtained
Experimen Observtions Inference
t
Group I: White ppt of PbS Pb+2
Add a few is obtained. indicated.
drops of dil.HCl
to 2 ml of soln.
Confirmatory
Test:
1.Add a few ml Yellow ppt of Pb+2
of K2CrO4 to sol PbCrO4 obtained. confirmed.
2.Add a few ml Yellow ppt of Pb+2
of KI to soln. PbI2 obtained. confirmed.

Group II :
Pass H2S gas Brown ppt Sn+2
through soln of obtained. indicated.
group 1.
Confirmatory
Test :
Add a few ml of Grey ppt of Hg Sn+2
HgCl2 to soln obtained confirmed.
Group III:
To 2 ml of soln No precipitation. Group III
add a pinch of absent
NH4Cl & excess
NH4OH.
Group IV:
To soln of No precipitation. Group IV
group 3 pass absent
H2S gas
 2.substance u

2.substance under analysis

:Indian coin
Solubility : soluble in conc.nitric
acid
Observation : Bright blue solution
Obtained
Experiment Observation Inference
Group I:
Add a few drops of No Group I
dil.HCl precipitation. absent.
to 2 ml of soln.
Group II :
Pass H2S gas A black ppt is Cu+2indicated.
through soln of obtained.
group 1.
Confirmatory Test:
1.Add a few drops A chocolate- Cu+2
of K4Fe(CN)6 to brown ppt is confirmed.
solution. obtained.
2.Add NH4OH in A blue
excess to solution. solution is Cu+2
obtained. confirmed.
Group III:
To 2 ml of soln add A reddish Fe+3indicated.
a pinch of NH4Cl brown ppt is
&excess NH4OH. obtained.
Confirmatory Test:
1.Add a few ml of Solution turns Fe+3
K4Fe(CN)6 to Prussian blue. confirmed.
solution.
2.Add a few drops A blood red
of KCNS to soln. colouration is Fe+3
observed. confirmed.
Group IV: No Group IV
To soln of group 3 precipitation. absent
pass H2S gas

RESULT
The constituents detected in the
alloys were:
1.Brass: copper & zinc
2.Solder:lead & tin
3.Coin: copper & iron