Reliance-Technical

Copper exists as a metallically bonded substance, allowing it to have a wide variety of metallic properties.
Copper is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Cu (Latin: Cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with excellent electrical conductivity, and finds extensive use as an electrical conductor, as a building material, and as a component of various alloys.
Copper has played a significant part in the history of both Britain and the United States, with both starting to mine the material from early on. In adition places like Iraq, China, Egypt, Greece and the Sumarian cities all have early evidence of using copper.
Copper is esential in almost all living things, mainly being used in the bloodstream of animals. Some animals even use copper-based pigments. It should, however, be treated with caution since too much of it can be poisonous to both humans and other life, sometimes to the point of being fatal.
A number of countries, such as Chile and the United States still have large amounts of copper, which they extract through large open mines. However, the price of copper is still rapidly rising, particularly in recent years.

Notable characteristics

Copper just above its melting point keeps its pink luster color when enough light (the camera's flash in this case) overshines the orange incandescence color.
Copper is a reddish-coloured metal, with a high electrical and thermal conductivity ( silver is the only pure metal to have a higher electrical conductivity at room temperature). In oxidation copper is mildly basic. Copper has its characteristic colour because it reflects red and orange light and absorbs other frequencies in the visible spectrum, due to its band structure. This can be contrasted with the optical properties of silver, gold and aluminium.
Copper occupies the same family of the periodic table as silver and gold, because it shares many characteristics with these metals. All have very high thermal and electrical conductivity. All are malleable metals.
In its liquid state a clear surface, without ambient light, looks somewhat greenish, another characteristic shared with gold. Silver does not have this property, so it is not a complementary color for the orange incandescence color. When liquid copper is in bright light, one can still see its pinkish luster. The liquid metal does not wetten surfaces as it has a very strong surface tension and forms near spherical droplets when poured on a surface.
Copper is insoluble in water (H2O) as well as in isopropanol, or isopropyl alcohol.
There are two stable isotopes, 63Cu and 65Cu, along with a couple of dozen radioisotopes. The vast majority of radioisotopes have half lives on the order of minutes or less; the longest lived, 64Cu, has a half life of 12.7 hours, with two decay modes, leading to two separate products.
There are numerous alloys of copper — speculum metal and bronze are alloys of copper and tin , and brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. Monel metal, also called cupronickel, is an alloy of copper and nickel. While the metal "bronze" usually refers to copper/tin alloys, it also is a generic term for any alloy of copper, such as aluminium bronze, silicon bronze, and manganese bronze.
The purity of copper is expressed as 4N for 99.9999% pure or 7N for 99.9999999% pure. The numeral gives the number of nines after the decimal point.

Applications
Copper is malleable and ductile, a good conductor of heat and, when very pure, a good conductor of electricity.
It is used extensively, in products such as:
Electronics:
o Copper wire.
o Electromagnets.
o Electrical machines, especially electromagnetic motors and generators.
o Electrical relays, electrical busbars and electrical switches.
o Vacuum tubes, cathode ray tubes, and the magnetrons in microwave ovens.
o Wave guides for microwave radiation.
o Integrated circuits, increasingly replacing aluminium because of its superior conductivity.
o As a material in the manufacture of computer heatsinks, as a result of its superior heat dissipation capacity to aluminium.
Structural Engineering:
o Statuary: The Statue of Liberty, for example, contains 179,200 pounds (81.3 tonnes) of copper.
o Alloyed with nickel, e.g. cupronickel and Monel, used as corrosive resistant materials in shipbuilding.
o Watt's steam engine.
Household Products:
o Copper plumbing.
o Doorknobs and other fixtures in houses.
o Roofing, guttering, and rainspouts on buildings.
o In cookware, such as frying pans.
o Most flatware (knives, forks, spoons) contains some copper (nickel silver).
o Sterling silver, if it is to be used in dinnerware, must contain a few percent copper.
o Copper was sometimes used by the Inuit to make the cutting blade for ulus.
Coinage:
o As a component of coins, often as cupronickel alloy.
o Euro coins contain different copper alloys
o U.S. Pennies are 2.5% copper by weight (Balance zinc 97.5%).
o U.S. Nickels are 75.0% copper by weight (Balance nickel 25.0%).
o U.S. Dimes are 91.67% copper by weight (Balance nickel 8.33%).
o U.S. Quarters are 91.67% copper by weight (Balance nickel 8.33%).
Biomedical applications:
o As a biostatic surface in hospitals, and to line parts of ships to protect against barnacles and mussels, originally used pure, but superseded by Muntz Metal. Bacteria will not grow on a copper surface because it is biostatic. Copper doorknobs are used by hospitals to reduce the transfer of disease, and Legionnaire's Disease is suppressed by copper tubing in air-conditioning systems.
o Copper(II) sulfate is used as a fungicide and as algae control in domestic lakes and ponds. It is used in gardening powders and sprays to kill mildew.
o Copper-62-PTSM, a complex contaning radioactive copper-62, is used as a Positron emission tomography radiotracer for heart blood flow measurements.
Chemical applications:
o Compounds, such as Fehling's solution, have applications in chemistry.
o As a component in ceramic glazes, and to color glass.
Others:
o Musical instruments, especially brass instruments and cymbals.

Mechanical Properties
Alloy Type	Uts (MPa) (min)		Elongation (%)	Hardness (HV) 034
Alloy Type	(Width <450) mm	(Width >450) mm	Elongation (%)	Hardness (HV) 034
COPPER
004	210	210	35	65 max (as manufactured)
005	240	240	10	70-95 (half hard)
020	Not available	Not available	--	--
006	--	--	--	Soft 55 max Hard 130 - 160
BRASS
303	280 340 385	280 325 350	45 35 20	80 max (soft) 75 min (quarter hard) 110 min (half hard)
304	280 340 385	280 325 350	45 35 20	80 max (soft) 75 min (quarter hard) 110 min (half hard)
306/317	280 325 350 415	280 325 340 385	50 35 20 5	80 max (soft) 75 min (quarter hard) 110 min (half hard) 125 min (hard)
308	265 340 400	265 310 370	40 10 5	80 max (soft) 95 min (half hard) 120 min (hard)
310	245 325 370	245 295 340	35 7 3	75 max (soft) 95 min (half hard) 120 min (hard)
311	280 340 385	280 325 350	45 35 20	80 max (soft) 75 min (quarter hard) 110 min (half hard)
312	245 310 350	245 325 325	35 7 3	75 max (soft) 95 min (half hard) 110 min (hard)
313	--	--	3	140 min (hard)
228	370 430 510	-- -- --	10 5 3	110 - 140 (half hard) 140 - 165 (hard) 165 - 190 (extra hard)
BRONZE
034	310 350 495 570 645 --	310 350 460 525 -- --	45 35 10 4 -- --	85 max (soft) 110 min (quarter hard) 160 min (half hard) 189 min (hard) 200 min (extra hard) 215 min (spring hard)

Mechanical Properties
Due to the amount of data in this table left-right scrolling is required

CRM Alloy

Description

South African
SABS

British

German
DIN

United States
ASTM

Nominal Composition %

Availability

Physical Properties

Characteristics and typical applications

Designation

Specification

Coefficient of linear expansion (thermal)
X10^-6/° C

Electrical Conductivity
% IACS

Weldability

Density
g/cm³

COPPER

004

High Conductivity Copper

805

BS2870/80

99,9 min

101

8,94

High purity copper with excellent electrical & thermal conductivities, used for electrical busbar and heat exchangers.

005*

Phosphorous Deoxidised Copper

404

C106

BS2870/80

99,85 min

0,013 - 0,05

8,94

Phosphorous added to remove dissolved oxygen from the metal. Has excellent corrosion resistance but reduced electrical conductivity, suitable for welding and used for geysers, roofing, flashings & electroplating anodes.

006

Tin Copper

REM

0,05 - 0,15

0,007 - 0,017

8,93

Cooling fins for radiators and heat exchangers. Has high resistance to softening during baking process.

020

Zinc Nickel Copper

REM

0,02 max

0,01 - 0,05

0,8 - 1,2

8,94

Cooling fins for radiators and heat exchangers. Has high resistance to softening during baking process, good resistance to corrosion.

BRASS

303* (i)

Common Brass

1303 CuZn37

CZ108

BS 2870/80

CuZn37 17660

B36 C27200

62 - 65

0,30 max

0,20 max

REM

20,3

8,44

Suitable for general presswork & shallow pressings, radiator header tanks, builder's hardware, electrical components and shim stock.

304*

65/35 Brass

1303

CZ107

BS 2870/80

CuZn33 17660

B36 C26800

64 - 67

0,10 max

REM

20,5

8,50

Improved corrosion resistance. Used for general presswork. A good cold working alloy.

306*

70/30 Brass

1303 CuZn30

CZ106

BS 2870/80

CuZn30 17660

B36 C26000

68,5 - 71,5

0,05 max

REM

19,9

8,53

The most ductile brass available. Particularly suitable for deep drawing and spinning operations for cartridge cases & radiator header tanks.

308*

80/20 Brass (Gilding Metal)

1303 CuZn20

CZ103

BS 2870/80

CuZn20 17660

B36 C24000

79,0 - 81,0

0,05 max

0,10 max

REM

19,1

8,67

Readily cold worked.

310*

85/15 Brass (Gilding Metal)

1303 CuZn15

CZ102

BS 2870/80

CuZn15 17660

B36 C23000

84,0 - 86,0

0,05 max

0,10 max

REM

18,7

8,75

Readily cold worked. Widely used for costume jewellery & architechtural applications.

311

64/36 Brass

CuZn36 17660

64 - 64,5

0,015 max

0,030 max

REM

8,50

Improved corrosion resistance. Used for general presswork. Good cold working alloy.

312*

90/10 Brass (Gilding Metal)

1303 CuZn10

CZ101

BS 2870/80

CuZn10 17660

B36 C22000

89,0 - 91,0

0,05 max

0,10 max

REM

18,4

8,80

Readily cold worked.

314* (i)

Cap Copper

CZ125

BS2870/80

CuZn 5 --

B36 C21000

95,0 - 98,0

0,02 max

0,05 max

REM

18,1

8,86

Very soft & ductile. Used for deep drawing of detonator tubes and primers.

228*

Leaded Brass 1% - 2%

1303

CZ119

BS 2870/80

CuZn37Pb2 17660

B121 C35300

61,0 - 64,0

1,0 - 2,5

REM

20,3

8,47

In the hard condition this alloy can be readily & accurately machined. Ideal for key blanks.

313

Tin Brass

94,1 - 95,1

0,045 - 0,055

0,03 max

0,05 max

4,45 - 0,55

N/A

8,67

Hard in the rolled condition - good for medals- readily plated/polished to suit a range of applications.

317

70/30 Corrosion Resistant Brass

68,5 - 71,5

0,05 max

0,007 - 0,017

19,9

8,53

Used in heat exchangers and radiators where corrosion resistance in coastal areas is very important, no recommended for deep drawing applications.

BRONZE

034* (i)

Phosphor Bronze 5% Tin

PB102

BS 2870/80

CuSn5 17662

B103 C51000

REM

4,5 - 5,5

0,02 - 0,4

17,8

8,86

Strong, hard wear resistant alloy for springs and also for clutch plates.

*According to BS2870/80
Note: (i) Non-Standard alloy manufactured on aspecial request, delivery lead times are dependent on infeed availability.
(ii) Other alloys not listed above my be available on special request and are dependent on the order quantity and availability of resources.
(iii) Weldability rating 'E' - Excellent; 'G' - Good; 'F' - Fair; 'NR' - Not Recommended.

Copper Bus & Flat Bars	Copper Round & Square Bars
Copper Sheets