What exactly does the term "alloy" mean?
Alloys are metal alloys or metal alloys with additional elements. Certain other metals/elements can be added to metals in certain ratios to impart certain properties or to strengthen some of their existing properties, resulting in alloys. Pure aluminium, for example, is a rather soft metal. Copper is also a soft metal. When aluminium is alloyed with copper, however, the resulting alloy has a far higher strength than the parent metals.