Mechanical Properties Of Brass

Due to the different zinc content in brass, the mechanical properties are also different, and the mechanical properties of brass vary with different zinc content. For α brass, as the zinc content increases, both σb and δ increase. For (α+β) brass, the room temperature intensity increases until the zinc content increases to about 45%. If the zinc content is further increased, the strength decreases sharply due to the emergence of the more brittle r phase (a solid solution based on the Cu5Zn8 compound) in the alloy microstructure. The plasticity of (α+β) brass at room temperature always decreases with the increase of zinc content. Therefore, copper-zinc alloys with a zinc content of more than 45% have no practical value.
Ordinary brass is widely used, such as water tank belts, water supply and drainage pipes, medals, bellows, serpentine pipes, condenser pipes, bullet shells and various complex shape stamping products, small hardware, etc. With the increase of zinc content from H63 to H59, they can withstand hot processing well, and are mostly used in various parts of machinery and electrical appliances, stamping parts and musical instruments.
In order to improve the corrosion resistance, strength, hardness and machinability of brass, a small amount (generally 1% ~ 2%, a few up to 3% ~ 4%, very few up to 5% ~ 6%) tin, aluminum, manganese, iron, silicon, nickel, lead and other elements are added to the copper-zinc alloy to form a ternary, quaternary, or even quinnary alloy, which is complex brass, also known as special brass.