Copper alloys are formed by adding some alloying elements (such as zinc, tin, aluminum, beryllium, manganese, silicon, nickel, phosphorus, etc.) to pure copper. Copper alloys have good electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and corrosion resistance, as well as high strength and wear resistance. According to different compositions, copper alloys are divided into brass and bronze.

Brass is a copper alloy with zinc as the main alloying element. According to chemical composition, brass is divided into ordinary copper and special brass.

Ordinary brass

Ordinary brass is a copper zinc binary alloy. Due to good plasticity, it is suitable for manufacturing plate, bar, wire, pipe and deep drawing parts, such as condensing pipe, cooling pipe and mechanical and electrical parts. Brass with an average copper content of 62% and 59% can also be cast, which is called cast brass.

special brass

In order to obtain higher strength, corrosion resistance and good casting performance, special brass is formed by adding aluminum, silicon, manganese, lead, tin and other elements into copper zinc alloy. Such as lead brass, tin brass, aluminum brass, silicon brass, manganese brass, etc. Lead brass has excellent cutting performance and good wear resistance. It is widely used in manufacturing clock parts and bearing shells and bushes by casting.

Tin brass has good corrosion resistance and is widely used to manufacture marine ship parts. Aluminum in aluminum brass can improve the strength and hardness of brass and improve the corrosion resistance in the atmosphere. Aluminum brass is used to manufacture corrosion-resistant parts. Silicon in silicon brass can improve the mechanical properties, wear resistance and corrosion resistance of copper. Silicon brass is mainly used to manufacture marine ship parts and chemical machinery parts.

bronze

Bronze originally refers to copper tin alloy, but in industry, it is used to say that copper alloys containing aluminum, silicon, lead, beryllium, manganese, etc. are also bronze, so bronze actually includes tin bronze, aluminum bronze, aluminum bronze, beryllium bronze, silicon bronze, lead bronze, etc. Bronze can also be divided into pressure processed bronze and cast bronze.

Tin bronze the copper base alloy with tin as the main alloy element is called tin bronze. Tin bronze used in industry has a tin content of 3% ~ 14%. Tin bronze with tin content less than 5% is suitable for cold working; Tin bronze containing 5% ~ 7% tin is suitable for hot working; Tin bronze containing more than 10% tin is suitable for casting. Tin bronze is widely used in shipbuilding, chemical industry, machinery, instrumentation and other industries. It is mainly used to manufacture wear-resistant parts such as bearings and shaft sleeves, elastic components such as springs, and anti-corrosion and anti-magnetic parts.

Aluminum bronze

The copper base alloy with aluminum as the main alloy element is called aluminum bronze. The mechanical properties of aluminum bronze are higher than those of brass and tin bronze. The aluminum content of aluminum bronze in practical application is between 5% and 12%, and the aluminum bronze with aluminum content of 5% and 7% is plastic, which is suitable for cold working.

When the aluminum content is more than 7% ~ 8%, the strength increases, but the plasticity decreases sharply. Therefore, it is mostly used after casting or hot processing. The wear resistance and corrosion resistance of aluminum bronze in air, sea water, sea water carbonic acid and most organic acids are higher than those of brass and tin bronze. Aluminum bronze can be used to manufacture high-strength anti-wear parts such as gears, shaft sleeves and worm gears, as well as elastic elements with high corrosion resistance.

Beryllium bronze the copper alloy with beryllium as the basic element is called beryllium bronze. The beryllium content of beryllium bronze is 1.7% ~ 2.5%. Beryllium bronze has high elastic limit and fatigue limit, excellent wear resistance and corrosion resistance, good electrical and thermal conductivity, non-magnetic, and no spark when impacted.

Beryllium bronze is mainly used to make important springs of precision instruments, clock gears, bearings and bushes working under high speed and high pressure, as well as important parts such as welding machine electrodes, explosion-proof tools and navigation compasses.

Source: Changjiang nonferrous metal network