Important Properties of Brass

• Excellent Machinability

  • Sets the standard by which other materials are judged
  • Slight reduction in ductility when lead is present

• Good Strength

  • Yield Strength 250 to 500MPa

• Good Strength

  • Yield Strength 250 to 500MPa

• Corrosion Resistance

  • No plating or painting required

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Brasses are medium strength engineering materials, comparable to high strength structural steels and some stainless steels and aluminium alloys. In the softened or annealed condition brasses are ductile and strong but when hardened by cold working their strength increases markedly. The addition of small quantities of Manganese, Aluminium, Tin, Silicon, Iron and Nickel in cast brasses produces a family of High Tensile Brasses that can have tensile strengths in excess of 700N/mm².

For general purposes the corrosion resistance of standard free machining alloys is excellent. The addition of 1% tin in Naval and Admiralty Brasses (as the names infer these brasses were originally developed for sea water service) improves corrosion especially in sea water. The addition of a small amount of Arsenic (typically 0.1%) to alpha brass alloys brass produces a heat treatable dezincification resistant brass frequently used for water fittings.

A small amount of aluminium added to duplex brasses gives an attractive yellow coloured Architectural Brass with excellent hot workability.

In the occasional instances when it is necessary to plate brass, because most plated coatings are porous to a certain extent, its inherently good corrosion resistance prevents the early onset of cracks, blisters, or eruptions of rust through the plating that can occur when the substrate is steel.