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 Difference  between  Alloy  and Amalgam.

Combinations of different metals form alloys. An alloy composed by mercury and other metal (or metals) forms amalgam.

When a true alloy is formed, the component metals are mixed together at a temperature which is greater than the melting point of all of them. Then, after having been mixed thoroughly in its fully liquid state, the mixture is allowed to solidify by cooling at a controlled rate.

By contrast, in an amalgamation process, bits of solid metal, which may themselves be of either pure metal or an alloy, are mixed together with a liquid metal at a temperature which is below the melting point of the solid component(s). (And in the case of dental amalgam, where mercury is used as the liquid metal amalgamating agent, this process is normally performed at room temperature.)

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 Amalgam is still an alloy but the composition is different, any substance mixed with mercury is called amalgam, for eg, sodium amalgam, magnesium amalgam etc. In case of alloys, the constituents are different substances for eg. copper and tin form brass.....I hope you understood the point...........

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thank you!! :)

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  All combinations of different metals form alloys. An alloy composed by mercury and other metal is an amalgam. In dentistry, amalgams may be composed by 3, 4, 5 or even more elements, so they are called binary, ternary, etc. Traditional dental amalgams contain Mercury, Silver, Copper, Tin and sometimes Zinc. Other metals like Palladium or Indium have been added by a few manufacturers, to modify the physical properties of the alloy.


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