Subject: Brass and Bronze

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 4 Apr 1996 10:43:29 -0500 (EST)

>Now for another probably dumb question:
>How does one determine whether the material at hand is brass or bronze?
>
>
This is fun because the terms are very loosely used.

"Architectural Bronze" is actually a brass with zinc and lead in it. Several
other "Bronzes" are also brass.

Brass has no Z and contains Zinc, _always_ (that means it stinks and gives
off poison white fumes when you melt it) Those alloys labeled brass usually
have 15% or more zinc in them

Bronze as in Bronze age is an alloy mainly of Tin and Copper

Bronze today usually means Silicon Bronze, such as everdur which is about
96% copper and 3% silicon and the rest Manganese This is the stuff you
normally get when you buy bronze rod. Silicon bronze is readily avail in
sheet plate and ingot form.

Or Phosphor Bronze which is your basic copper tin mixture 3-10% copper .15%
phosphorous

Bearing  Bronze is a low zinc Brass with .5% tin and 9.5% zinc

Commercial Bronze and Jewelry bronze are actually brasses , no tin or
silicon except for trace pollutants with 10 and 12.5% zinc respectively.

How to tell, wish I knew?  It's been a long time since I chemistry class.
Buy pedigreed material and mark it?

Gene

 The Studios of Gene Olson and Chris Wilson - Working in Metals, Stone,
Mixed Media
    8600 NE O'Dean Ave, Elk River MN 55330
   fax:  612-441-5846  Phone:  612-441-1563
 email:  [email-masked]    URL:  http://www.cris.com/~mettlewk/