When we think of construction, the first metal that comes to mind is steel. While it’s true that steel plays a vital role in a building’s stability by acting as reinforcement to columns and beams, it’s not the only metal used in construction. There are many others, most of which are copper alloys. You’ll see them when you take the stairs or the elevator, when you open the door to your home or apartment, or when you take a shower.

Why Copper Alloys Are Architecture-Friendly

Ever since copper was discovered around 10,000 years ago, we’ve become obsessed with exploring its capacities, and all the hard work has paid off well as we now see so many alloys of copper being utilized extensively for various practical applications. But why exactly are copper alloys so in demand in construction? Surely there are many other metals out there that look as good as them. Well, as it turns out, copper alloys possess certain desirable properties that other metals are deficient in or lack completely.

Architects love copper alloys because they offer some kind of design freedom. No other metals are flexible enough to give architects so many options to create designs that are both stunning and enduring. Copper alloys come in an amazing diversity of colors and surface textures as well as a vast array of available product forms, including tubes, bars, and sheets. Thanks to their incredible malleability, copper alloys can adapt to all shapes, dimensions, and luster requirements.

Copper alloys are also very easy to join both mechanically and metallurgically. Having a stable molecular structure, they are extremely durable as well. Some copper-based items from the ancient times still survive today, thanks to copper’s unmatched ability to resist corrosion. Despite that, it’s amazing how many ways you can tint, oxidize, or alter their color. Their thermal and electrical conductivities are off the charts, too. Simply put, there are no metals out there that can match copper alloys when it comes to architectural litheness.

How Copper Alloys Are Identified

As the list of copper alloys grow longer each year, it’s becoming harder and harder to classify them. The risk of mistaking one alloy for another is increasing radically, and it’s not a simple problem. Even choosing an alloy that’s only slightly different from what you actually need could lead to a disaster. This is why we use the Unified Numbering System (UNS) for metals and alloys in North America. In this system, metal alloys are arranged into groups based on their chemical composition, or more specifically on the main and secondary elements they consist. For instance, all copper alloys with zinc as the secondary content are classified as brasses and those that have tin are classified as bronzes.

In the UNS, copper alloys are denoted C followed by five numerical digits. Each combination is unique and represents a particular alloy. UNS designations for other types of metals follow the same format but use different letters. There are currently about 800 copper alloys identified using the UNS. Imagine having to name them the traditional way; that would be utterly confusing. The UNS can help eradicate confusions even in the simplest of ways, such as when selecting bronze shower rods, bronze curtain rods, or stair railings.

Five Principal Families of Copper Alloys and Their Uses

As previously mentioned, copper alloy designations are determined by their secondary content, and so are their families. There are five principal families of copper, each of them with a different primary inclusion. Before proceeding to learning how to install fixed shower curtain rods or how to preserve the luster of your brass furniture, first find out the different families of copper alloy available and their uses.

• Coppers

  – Although not necessarily alloys of copper (because metals considered alloys contain two or more metallic elements), metals of different grades and thicknesses that are made purely of copper belong to this category. Their differences in physical properties are due to their thickness and the manner by which they were manufactured. Copper material suppliers usually have a separate catalog for this group of copper alloys.

• Bronzes

  – The oldest known alloy of copper, bronze is made up of copper and tin. A small portion of other metals are also added to produce different varieties, consequently benefiting diverse applications. Phosphor bronze, for instance, is 0.01% to 0.35% phosphorous. The resulting alloy can be used for fasteners, welding rods, and heavy duty bridge plates. Silicon bronze, on the other hand, is 2.80% to 3.80%, making it the most fluid of all copper alloys and it has excellent corrosion resistance as well. You may not notice it but many of your household furniture and fixtures may be made of bronze, including bronze shower curtain rods and bed frames.

• Brasses

  – Replace tin with zinc as the secondary alloying content of copper and you’ll produce brass. This gold-like alloy is available in a wide range of product forms, including plate, sheet and strip for interior wall and column cladding, tubes and rods for fixtures and railings, wires for screens and grillwork. Like bronze, different types of brass can be produced by adding other metals into the mixture. Brasses can be find both indoors and outdoors.

• Copper Nickels

  – Due to their high corrosion and tarnish resistance, copper nickels (also called cupronickels) are well-suited for coinage. Many of the coins we have in the United States are made from certain types of copper nickels.

• Nickel Silvers

  – This group of copper alloys is often mistaken for brasses as both groups share certain qualities. The only difference is nickel silver’s warm, silvery white color (even though it contains no silver), which is why it is also popularly known as white silver.

Whether you’re looking to renovate your bathroom and include shower rods bronze setup or simply beef up your kitchen with a shiny counter cladding, copper alloys are your best bet. Remember to consult with a certified copper sheet supplier like Rotax Metals if you are not familiar with the different types and grades of copper alloys so that you can pick the right material for your project. By giving them details of your plan, they can help you narrow down the vast choices available.

Sources:

https://www.copper.org/publications/pub_list/pdf/A4039-ArchitecturalApplications.pdf

Music is a key ingredient of human evolution. Like science and politics, it’s something we, humans, are bound to discover and develop no matter how many times we disappear and reemerge in the Earth’s lifecycle. Throughout history, you’ll find music playing a vital role in the formation and preservation of traditions, such as rituals and festivities, as well as the establishment of domain and exhibition of power.

Before our ancestors learned to create music with their voice, they were already using instruments that produce sound to communicate with each other. Later they used the same instruments to create sound that entertain rather than just send signal. They experimented on a vast array of materials, including wood, bone, and animal hives to produce louder sound and a greater variety of tunes. This desire for better music has remained insatiable to this day so much so that new musical instruments arise from every generation.

A Revolutionary Moment

Until the end of the Paleolithic Era, all musical instruments are made from organic materials. Thanks to the discovery of metal and to the blacksmiths who explored them, we’ve managed to expand the resources we use to create musical instruments. As a result, we’ve also covered multiple levels of the sound spectrum, which explains why we have so many musical genres and styles today.

Just between the Copper Age and the Iron Age, the evolution of musical instruments had already come a long way. One thing hasn’t changed since then, though—most metallic musical instruments are made of brass. While many other metals have been used for making musical instruments, brass seems to always steal the spotlight. In fact, there’s an entire family of musical instruments called “brass instruments”.

The Brass Family

Musical instruments are classified according to their body structure, operation, and the sound they create. The type of material they are made of isn’t really considered of great importance at least by those who don’t understand its impact on the quality of sound produced by the instruments. The brass family, for instance, refers to musical instruments that produce sounds of different pitches by buzzing the lips together into their mouthpiece. It just so happens that all these instruments are mostly made of brass.

The brass family consists of five major instruments, each of which produces a different kind of sound. Trumpet and cornet are the smallest in the family and produce high-pitch sound. Slightly larger than them is the French horn, which has a low-pitch sound. Trombone, like the French horn, is a bass instrument, but it uses a slide to change pitches instead of valves or keys. Another key member of the family is the baritone, which is considered a hybrid of trumpet and tuba. Lastly, the largest of the family and produces the lowest tone is the tuba.

What is brass?

Copper is one of the first metals discovered and exploited by man. Ancient artifacts, including primitive working tools and accessories, made of this metal that have survived to this day are a proof of that. For over 5,000 years, copper, in its pure form, had fueled the earliest industries until bronze was discovered. Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. It became more popular than copper to a point that an entire era was named after it.

Then another popular copper alloy came along by accident about 3,500 years later. Early metallurgists discovered this metal when they were extracting copper from zinc-rich ore. They weren’t able to separate copper from other contaminants but not from zinc, so instead of producing pure copper, they produced a metal that’s a little bit harder, more malleable, and less pliant than bronze. They called it brass.

Why is brass used for musical instruments?

As previously mentioned, there’s a bunch of musical instruments out there that are made mainly of brass. Manufacturers of these new and used brass musical instruments claim that brass produces the best acoustics. However, many argue that other materials, such as silver, bronze, and even plastic are capable of producing the same quality of sound brass produces. So what sets brass apart from other materials and why are musical instruments made of brass?

An experiment conducted by Richard Smith, the owner of Smith Watkins, a prominent maker of musical instruments, has revealed that there’s a plethora of factors that influence the quality of sound a musical instrument produces, including the shape and dimension of every component. Materials, as Smith puts it, are just the icing at the top. Arguably though, certain conditions have to be met to achieve and maintain the right shape and dimension needed to create quality sound, and these conditions are directly influenced by the material used to make the instrument.

Unlike other materials, brass used for musical instruments is extremely malleable. Meaning, it can be stretched, hammered, or rolled into thin sheets or plates without breaking. It’s also very easy to form into tubes, which make up most brass and woodwind instruments. Plus, brass has a close resemblance to gold, giving musical instruments added elegance to their appearance.

Of course, to produce the highest quality musical instruments from brass, you have to make sure that your materials come from the right sources. When it comes to copper alloys and other metal supplies, only trust copper and brass suppliers that have been around for a long time, such as Rotax Metals. They have the best foundries and they use the latest technology available in their manufacturing processes.

Sources:

https://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/jom/0708/roncone-0708.html