Brass Rod
There are over forty compositions of brasses included in British Standards.

Compositions / Mechanical Properties



Turning and Riveting Brass
Available in Rod, Bar, Section, Hollow Rod, and Wire as Coils to specification BS2874.

Hot Stamping Brass
Available as Rod, Bar, or cut to length to your own requirements. To specification BS2872.

Compositions / Mechanical Properties

Bronze
The bronzes are copper-tin alloys. The two major commercial products are phosphor bronze and aluminium bronze. Maganese Bronze - more correctly known as high tensile brass is detailed below.

Phosphor Bronze and Gunmetal
Very strong and hard from the addition of phosphorus to a tin bronze rather than the more expensive nickel.

PB1 is a high quality alloy only continously cast by the best foundries for machining to components such as heavily loaded bushes and thrust washers - against hardened steel shafts under conditions where lubrication is generally good.

PB2 has a higher tin content which improves wear resistance - making it suitable for use in manufacture of gears and other heavy sliding or reciprocating loads.

LB1 has reduced tin content and a lead addition that improves machinability. In hardness it is something in between the phosphor and leaded bronzes.

LB1, LB2, LB4 and LB5, the leaded bronzes are useful general purpose bearing alloys, generally paired with non-hardened shafts.

G1, a gunmetal also known as "Admiralty Gunmetal" is a strong, hard alloy originally developed for marine applications. Used for sliding bearings, and also for components in hydraulic pumps, shaft liners, slip rings, and valve spindles.

SAE 660, a leaded gunmetal is not yet included in BS 1400 but is popular as a general purpose bearing material with a good all-round balance of properties of strength, hardness, machinability and abrasion resistance.

PB102 is a very useful corrosion-resistant high strength high hardness wrought phosphor bronze with a very wide variety of applications. It is available in most forms. Common use is in the electrical industry, it has good resistance to wear, sparking, corrosion, and temperature that makes it ideal as a contact material, for fasteners, masonry fixings, and similar devices.

Compositions / Mechanical Properties

Aluminium Bronzes
Having undergone major development work in class 1 safety-critical naval applications, aluminium bronzes are being used in heavy duty applications in marine, chemical and general engineering. They can be hot-worked and have excellent corrosion resistance, especially in marine and similar environments. They are strong and hard, yet have excellent impact strength. While not so easy to machine as some other copper alloys, they are no worse that many steels.

Specifications
BS 2872 for Forging Stock and Forgings
BS 2874 for Rod, Bard and Sections
BS 2875 for Plate

Availability
Alloy CA 104 is the commercial alloy in most demand, considerable stocks of this are available, also the NES 833 alloy with quality assurance certification to MoD requirements. Several other aluminium bronze alloys are available, and enquiries are welcome.

Compositions / Mechanical Properties

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