Leaded copper

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Leaded copper is a metal alloy of copper with lead. A small amount of lead makes the copper easier to machine. Alloys with a larger amount of lead are used for bearings. Brass and bronze alloys of copper may have lead added and are then also sometimes referred to as leaded copper alloys. [1] Leaded copper and its alloys have been used since ancient times.

Contents

Applications

Leaded copper alloys are used to make electrical connectors and mechanical bearings, especially in the automotive industry where high performance and reliability are required. Mechanical bearings can have high lead content. Such high lead content alloys are unsuitable for welding or brazing. [2]

Machined alloys

Alloys with around 2-4% lead are used for machined copper applications, where the lead content lubricates the copper and makes it easier to machine. These include high-quality electrical connectors where a high current capacity and low electrical resistance are required. Such connectors are used in industrial automation and the automotive industry. [3] [1] Brasses (copper alloyed with zinc) may also be leaded for the same reason. [4]

Cast and sintered alloys

High-strength casting copper alloys typically contain less than 2% lead. [1] Bearing alloys are often cast or sintered onto a steel backing. Softer alloys with a higher lead content are also used, for example in bushes where conformance to the opposite bearing surface is important. [5] [6]

Some casting alloys have over 20% lead content but, due to their toxicity, they are no longer used. [4]

Toxicity

When lead alloys wear, lead is released into the environment. Lead is a heavy metal toxin and in recent times the use of leaded copper alloys has been reduced. [1]

History

Signs of leaded copper use are found in the manufacture of ancient Egyptian faience. By 1500 BC leaded copper could be found across the Old World from East Asia to Africa and Europe. [7]

Enigmatic entries in a Chinese manuscript, the Kao Gong Ji dating from around 300 BC, were deciphered by scholars in 2022, and seem to indicate that a pre-prepared copper-lead alloy named Xi may have been used in the preparation of ancient bronzes. Another copper-tin-lead alloy named Jin was also tentatively identified as a pre-prepared component of Chinese bronzes. This part of the manuscript relates to an attempt to standardise the quality of bronze manufacture. [8] [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alloy</span> Mixture or metallic solid solution composed of two or more elements

An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductility, opacity, and luster, but may have properties that differ from those of the pure metals, such as increased strength or hardness. In some cases, an alloy may reduce the overall cost of the material while preserving important properties. In other cases, the mixture imparts synergistic properties to the constituent metal elements such as corrosion resistance or mechanical strength.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brass</span> Alloy of copper and zinc

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally 66% copper and 34% zinc. In use since prehistoric times, it is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other within the same crystal structure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bronze</span> Alloy of copper and tin

Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids, such as arsenic or silicon. These additions produce a range of alloys that may be harder than copper alone, or have other useful properties, such as strength, ductility, or machinability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metallurgy</span> Field of science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metals

Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metalworking</span> Process of making items from metal

Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals in order to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term, it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on every scale: from huge ships, buildings, and bridges, down to precise engine parts and delicate jewelry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brazing</span> Metal-joining technique

Brazing is a metal-joining process in which two or more metal items are joined by melting and flowing a filler metal into the joint, with the filler metal having a lower melting point than the adjoining metal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ingot</span> Piece of relatively pure metal

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phosphor bronze</span> Bronze where the oxygen is removed with phosphorus

Phosphor bronze is a member of the family of copper alloys. It is composed of copper that is alloyed with 0.5–11% of tin and 0.01–0.35% phosphorus, and may contain other elements to confer specific properties. The tin increases the corrosion resistance and strength of the alloy, while the phosphorus increases its wear resistance and stiffness.

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Bell metal or bell bronze is an alloy used for making bells and related instruments, such as cymbals. It is a form of bronze with a higher tin content than most other bronzes, usually in approximately a 4:1 ratio of copper to tin. The higher tin content increases the rigidity of the metal, and increases the resonance. Historically, it was preferred for early cannons. Today, it also has industrial uses, being specified for valve bodies, piston rings, bearings, and bushings.

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Bismuth bronze or bismuth brass is a copper alloy which typically contains 1-3% bismuth by weight, although some alloys contain over 6% Bi. This bronze alloy is very corrosion-resistant, a property which makes it suitable for use in environments such as the ocean. Bismuth bronzes and brasses are more malleable, thermally conductive, and polish better than regular brasses. The most common industrial application of these metals is as bearings, however the material has been in use since the late nineteenth century as kitchenware and mirrors. Bismuth bronze was also found in ceremonial Inca knives at Machu Picchu. Recently, pressure for the substitution of hazardous metals has increased and with it bismuth bronze is being marketed as a green alternative to leaded bronze bearings and bushings.

The Kaogongji, Kaogong Ji, or Kao Gong Ji, variously translated as The Record of Trades, Records of Examination of Craftsman, Book of Diverse Crafts, and The Artificers' Record, is an ancient Chinese work on science and technology in China. It was compiled sometime during the 5th, 4th, or 3rd century BCE and then included as a section of the Rites of Zhou under the Han as a replacement for the lost text concerning the Offices of Winter concerning public works.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diehl Metall</span>

Diehl Metall is a corporate division of the Diehl Stiftung & Co. KG, a worldwide operating industrial group with its head office in Röthenbach an der Pegnitz near Nuremberg, Germany. The production units of Diehl Metall are situated at 13 locations in Europe, Asia, South America and the US. With 3,420 employees the company generated a turnover of €917 million in 2017. Diehl Metall produces semi-finished products, forgings and rolled products, high-precision stamped parts with plating technologies as well as Schempp+Decker press-fit zones and metal-plastic compound systems. The company provides material development and production, sheet metal forming and forging technology as well as plating, press-fit, overmolding and assembling technology completely in-house.

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Welter (2014)
  2. Aalco, pp.72-3
  3. Robert Hult, "Leaded Copper Alloys Get A New Lease on Life", ConnectorSupplier.com. (retrieved 16 October 2019)
  4. 1 2 Aalco, p.74.
  5. Richard Stone; Introduction to Internal Combustion Engines, 4th Edition, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. ISBN   978-0-230-57663-6. Pages 160-1.
  6. Engine Bearing Materials catalogue, Glacier Vanderbell.
  7. "Copper Through the Ages" Archived 2021-11-10 at the Wayback Machine , Copper Development Association (retrieved 16 October 2019)
  8. Pollard, A. M.; Liu, Ruiliang (2022). "The six recipes of Zhou: a new perspective on Jin (金) and Xi (锡)" (PDF). Antiquity. 96 (389): 1200–1213. doi:10.15184/aqy.2022.81. ISSN   0003-598X.
  9. Pare, Sascha (10 August 2022). "Researchers decode metal-making recipes in ancient Chinese text". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 August 2022.

Bibliography