| Base Metal | (english) (1) The metal present in the largest proportion in an alloy; (2) the metal to be brazed, cut or welded; (3) after welding the part of the metal that was not melted during the process. |
| Base Metal Contamination | (english) Dirt or other impurities in the steel strip. |
| Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) | (english) "WHAT A pear-shaped furnace, lined with refractory bricks, that refines molten iron from the blast furnace and scrap into steel. Up to 30% of the charge into the BOF can be scrap, with hot metal accounting for the rest. WHY BOFs, which can refine a heat (batch) of steel in less than 45 minutes, replaced open-hearth furnaces in the 1950s; the latter required five to six hours to process the metal. The BOF's rapid operation, lower cost and ease of control give it a distinct advantage over previous methods. HOW Scrap is dumped into the furnace vessel, followed by the hot metal from the blast furnace. A lance is lowered from above, through which blows a high-pressure stream of oxygen to cause chemical reactions that separate impurities as fumes or slag. Once refined, the liquid steel and slag are poured into separate containers. " |
| Bath | (english) Molten metal on the hearth of a furnace, in a crucible, or in a ladle |
| Bead | (english) 1)Half-round cavity in a mold, or half-round projection or molding on a casting, 2) a single deposit of weld metal produced by fusion. |
| Beading | (english) Raising a ridge on sheet metal |
| Bend Test | (english) Various tests which is used to ascertain the toughness and ductility of a metal product, in which the material is bent around its axis and/ or around an outside radius. A complete test might specify such a bend to be both with and against the direction of grain. For testing, samples should be edge filed to remove burrs and any edgewise cracks resulting from slitting or shearing. If a vice is to be employed, then you must line the jaws with some soft metal, to permit a flow of the metal in the piece being tested. |
| Billet | (english) (1) A semi-finished section hot rolled from a metal ingot, with a rectangular cross section usually ranging from 16 to 36 in., the width being less than twice the thickness. Where the cross section exceeds 36 in., the term “bloom” is properly but not universally used. Sizes smaller than 16 in. are usually termed “bars”; a solid semi-finished round or square product which has been hot worked by forging, rolling, or extrusion. (2) A semi-finished, cogged, hot rolled or continuous-cast metal product of uniform section, usually rectangular with radiused corners. Billets are relatively larger than bars. |
| Billet 2 | (english) A solid semi-finished round or square product that has been hot worked by forging, rolling, or extrusion. An iron or steel billet has a minimum width or thickness of 1 1/2 in. and the cross-sectional area varies from 2 1/4 to 36 sq. in. For nonferrous metals, it may also be a casting suitable for finished or semi-finished rolling or for extrusion. |
| Bimetal | (english) Casting, usually centrifugal, made of two different metals, fused together. |