Lead Information

Lead is a soft, malleable and heavy metal. Freshly cut, solid lead has a bluish-white color tarnishes to a dull grayish color after exposure to air. Lead is used in building construction, lead-acid batteries, bullets and shot, weights and as a radiation shield.

WARNING: If ingested or inhaled, lead and its compounds are poisonous.

Adding only small amounts of other metals can significantly change leads properties. Adding small amounts of Copper increases the lead alloy's hardness and improves resistance to sulfuric acid corrosion. Some other metals, such as cadmium, tin, and tellurium, improve hardness and fight metal fatigue. Zinc and Bismuth impair the corrosion resistance without doing any good. Lead is not a good additive to add to other metals as it will generally lead to worse characteristics.

Lead has a melting temperature of 327C (621F).