Although cadmium has only limited use as a pure metal it forms many binary and more complex alloys which have useful properties for many commercial applications.
Most commercial alloys containing cadmium fall into two major groups, where
(a) the presence of cadmium improves some feature of the alloy. Small amounts of cadmium can improve the hardness and wear resistance, mechanical strength, fatigue strength, castability and electrochemical properties of a number of alloys. Cadmium is added principally to alloys based on copper, tin, lead and zinc although several others benefit from its presence.
(b) lower melting points are obtained. These alloys range from the low melting point eutectic ('fusible') alloys to high melting point non-eutectic alloys used in metal joining.