Are there any standard procedures or scientific price list to evaluate the cost of the materials (for industrial mass production)? I want to compare the price of alloys based on its elemental content. I know that the metal costs fluctuate but any scientific procedure to evaluate the alloy cost?
Thanks.
Usually, what a customer is willing to pay for an alloy is determined by its properties, not its chemistry. That is, one may assume that customers buy the cheapest alloy that meets their needs. Of course, properties are determined by the specific combination of chemisty, processing, and microstructure. For example, most Al alloys are over 90% Al; and therefore, on a commodity basis they should all cost about the same. However, the processing and heat treatments required to get the properties required for aircraft alloys has a strong influence on their final price. However, let us suppose one only wants to look at the cost of the elemental constituents for some analysis. What level of purity should one use for each element in this calculation? That is, the cost of an element in "pure form" can vary greatly with the degree of purity. An element can be very inexpensive at a commercial purity of 99.8%, but orders of magnitude more expensive at 99.9998%. The 0.2% could be elements that ruin the properties of a high tech alloy, but are perfectly acceptable in a low tech alloy. These requirements will be a significant factor in determining the price of the commodities required to make an alloy.
Viswanathan Ramamoorthy ;
Dear Mr. V.Ramamoorthy;
Matter is sample, when making an alloy through melting and casting routes you are supposed to start by first principles.Like for making iron base alloys by melting ,refining,casting and remelting graded scrap is taken having certain amount of alloys and you have to add in form of ferro alloys and /or virgin metal after taking into account the losses during melting.Rates of metals are available from LME(London metal exchange) and ferro alloys from their manufacturers.So you can make an Excel sheet for cost calculations.
Shivraj Singh Kasana
In addition to all factors that influence the "natural" price of an alloy (as considered by scientists or engineers), it is probably supply and demand that massively influence the price, as well as various government interventions (tariffs and subsidies).
Usually, what a customer is willing to pay for an alloy is determined by its properties, not its chemistry. That is, one may assume that customers buy the cheapest alloy that meets their needs. Of course, properties are determined by the specific combination of chemisty, processing, and microstructure. For example, most Al alloys are over 90% Al; and therefore, on a commodity basis they should all cost about the same. However, the processing and heat treatments required to get the properties required for aircraft alloys has a strong influence on their final price. However, let us suppose one only wants to look at the cost of the elemental constituents for some analysis. What level of purity should one use for each element in this calculation? That is, the cost of an element in "pure form" can vary greatly with the degree of purity. An element can be very inexpensive at a commercial purity of 99.8%, but orders of magnitude more expensive at 99.9998%. The 0.2% could be elements that ruin the properties of a high tech alloy, but are perfectly acceptable in a low tech alloy. These requirements will be a significant factor in determining the price of the commodities required to make an alloy.
I concur with Shivra's recommendation in building a simple spreadsheet with the elements used in the alloy and using the current prices from the London Metal Exchange and ferro alloys from people such as William Rowland etc.
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