Classification and application/use of copper materials

Copper materials can be simply divided into two categories, one of which is pure copper, and the other is the composition of various copper alloys.

Copper Alloy

What is copper alloy? An alloy is a substance with metallic characteristics synthesized by a certain method from two or more metals and metals or non-metals. It is generally obtained by melting into a homogeneous liquid and solidifying.

Copper alloy obviously means that the alloy contains copper element. It can be simply understood as copper alloy (copper alloy) with pure copper as the matrix and adding one or more other elements to form an alloy.

Pure Copper

According to China's classification standards for non-ferrous metals, pure copper is divided into three types, namely, oxygen-free copper, red copper, and phosphorus deoxidized copper.

The purity of oxygen-free copper copper is greater than 99.95%, due to its high electrical conductivity, stable processing performance, good weldability, corrosion resistance and low temperature performance. Therefore, it is widely used in the manufacture of bus bars, conductive strips, waveguides, coaxial cables, vacuum seals, vacuum tubes, transistor components, etc.; usually we say red copper refers to copper containing more than 99.95%.

Because the purity of red copper is very high, the conductivity of red copper is much lower than that of other materials. Red copper is widely used to make electrical equipment and heat exchangers such as generators, bus bars, cables, switchgears, transformers, etc.; the copper content of phosphorus deoxidized copper reaches more than 99.90%, and its welding performance and cold bending performance are good. It is widely used in the production of gasoline or gas Conveying pipes, drain pipes, condenser pipes, mine pipes, condensers, evaporators, heat exchangers, train box parts.

The classification of copper alloys is generally divided into the following four categories: brass, bronze, cupronickel, and silver copper.

Brass refers to an alloy based on copper and zinc. Because of its high strength, high hardness, and strong chemical resistance, brass is widely used in heat exchangers and condensers, low temperature pipelines, and subsea transportation. Tube. Manufacture of sheets, bars, rods, tubes, casting parts, etc.; bronze originally refers to copper-tin alloys, because bronze has high strength, good sliding friction resistance, excellent cutting performance and good welding performance, It has good corrosion resistance in the atmosphere and fresh water. For this reason, bronze is widely used in springs, reeds and other elastic components and pipe fittings, chemical equipment, wear-resistant parts and anti-magnetic parts, as well as the production of aviation, automobiles, tractors and other industries.

Parts subjected to friction in the industry; cupronickel is a copper-based alloy with nickel as the main additive element. It has good ductility, high hardness, beautiful color, corrosion resistance, and deep drawing performance. It is widely used in shipbuilding, petrochemical industry, electrical appliances, and instruments. , Medical equipment, daily necessities, handicrafts and other fields, and is also an important resistance and thermocouple alloy. The disadvantage of copper-nickel alloy is the main additive element-nickel is a scarce strategic material, and the price is relatively expensive; silver-copper is a binary alloy of silver and copper, its outstanding feature is strong resistance to sulfide, good conductivity, fluidity and Wetting, good mechanical properties, high hardness, wear resistance and welding resistance. It is widely used to make contacts, conductive rings and fixed contacts of air circuit breakers, voltage controllers, telephone relays, contactors, starters and other devices. Vacuum solders, commutators, coins, decorations and tableware, etc.