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Grades of brass

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bry1975:
"That's when I remembered it was ally bronze.  Thought it best not to tell him at this stage."


LOL kinda like giving the chap a lump of 440c stainless steel instead of a nice and very weldable low carbon steel.

Bogstandard:
Just to show I am not biased and sometimes do take an interest in specific steels, here is a good place to get all your specs for UK steels. There are even conversion charts to allow you to find the materials sometimes discussed on hobby sites where people are quoting numbers and/or letters who reside in other parts of the world.

http://www.westyorkssteel.com/products.html


But I personally still like to think things can and should be kept much simpler in what we get up to.


Bogs

bry1975:
Thanks for the link bogs.

It's like with tool steels so many different types and yet most of the time anything will do.

They use to reckon with nylon their's a grade to fullfil every need matweb lists 8,947 nylons.

PTsideshow:
To add some numbers  :dremel: In the alloys of Brass the two main ones are Alpha Brasses, Beta Brasses which are then divided into the following main subs with others
Alpha Brasses
65%Cu 35%Zn which is yellow brass
260/Cartridge Brass is 70%Cu 30%Zn
85%Cu 15%Zn Red Brass
88%Cu 12%Zn  226/Nu-Gold (called Pinchbeck metal in Victorian times)
90%Cu 20%Zn  220/Red Brass
95%Cu 5%Zn  Gilding Metal

The second major set is the Beta Brasses, more zinc in the alloy
60% Cu 40% Zn Muntz Brass
60%Cu .75%Sn(tin) 39.25%Zn  Naval Brass also called Roman Brass
60%Cu  37-39.5%Zn .5-3% Pb(lead)
55%Cu 45%Zn bath Brass

The Bronzes are
80%Cu 20%Sn(tin) Bell casting Bronze
90%Cu 10%Sn Phosphor Bronze (D) 95%Cu 5%Sn Phosphor Bronze (A) they add up to 0.35% phosphorus is added.
 95%Cu 5% Mn (manganese) Manganese Bronze
 60%Cu 1%Sn 33%Zn 6%PB Leaded Bronze

There are many more alloys and task/job specific ones, along with the never ending discussion of which secret alloy is truly gives the best sounding ring from large bells.

The Nu-gold is a more golden color alloy that is a favorite in the jewelry and art field for its warmer golden hue.
 :thumbup:

Ned Ludd:
Hi Guys,
Another good site for metal information is;
http://www.actonbrightsteel.co.uk/
Take a look at the technical guide, I like their listing because they still list "proper" numbers (EN) which are so much easier to remember than apparently random new numbers. They also list common uses for the particular steel. I find that the majority of real or proper engineers still use the EN numbering system, perhaps they cant remember the new system either.

For those who might be interested, the "EN" stands for Emergency Number. The system was introduced during WW2 to force all the various steel makers in Great Britain into making steels to a common formula and grade, for strategic and supply reasons.

Most of us on this forum are only interested in a few different steels, plain ordinary mild steel EN1 in either bright or black or as I believe our US cousins call them CRS or HRS. We also need something that is hardenable something like EN8, a "40" carbon steel, which can be hardened much like "silver steel/drill rod" but much cheaper. There is of course Silver steel, but I think quite a few people use it because it is an easily available ground-to-size steel rather than its ability to be hardened, save for tool makers of course.

Sometimes we may want something a little more exotic like EN16 a manganese/molybdenum, EN19 a chrome/moly or EN24 a nickel/chrome/moly steel for that special critical component, but they are usually more for when friends say can you make a new Girder fork spindle for my pre-war racing motorbike than for a Stuart steam engine.

It might be of interest to quote from a book "the motor cyclist's workshop" where it states "The notes that follow are compiled from the information given by a motor cycle designer of world fame. The subject is simpler than might be expected. Except for the valves, he would happily use only three steels in a standard (not racing) motor cycle- a good quality mild steel, a carbon steel and a commercial nickel-alloy." The book does go on to list the type of steels used for various components but I am not going to type the whole chapter!!

Very few of us, if any, use our metals to their extreme limits, it is not like we are making full scale F1 engines where every single gram weight is important. As Bogs says, when we want to make something we go to our stock room (scrap pile)and pick up something of the right size that has the properties we want. Mild steel for strength, Brass for corrosion (?) resistance, Bronze for corrosion resistance and bearing properties, Aluminium for lightness and ease of machining, and Stainless steel for strength, corrosion resistance, the ability to be polished to save the need for plating and ease of machining. Let us not forget cast iron, much favoured for, unsurprisingly, castings and bearing surfaces.
If you notice a slight pro Stainless bias, you are right. I hate things that I have spent ages making only for them to go rusty in a few hours in our "multi-purpose" UK climate.
Ned

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