The classification and use of copper alloys

Copper alloys mainly include beryllium copper alloy, silver copper alloy, nickel copper alloy, tungsten copper alloy, phosphor copper alloy.

1.Beryllium copper alloy

Beryllium copper alloy is a malleable and castable alloy. It is a copper-based alloy with aging precipitation strengthening. After quenching and aging treatment, it has high strength, hardness, elastic limit, good stability, and has corrosion resistance, wear resistance and resistance. A series of advantages such as fatigue, low temperature resistance, non-magnetic, good electrical and thermal conductivity, and no sparks when impacted. Beryllium copper materials are basically divided into high-strength and high-elastic beryllium copper alloys (with beryllium content of 1.6%-2.1%) and high-conductivity copper beryllium alloys (beryllium content of 0.2%-0.7%).

beryllium copper alloy use

Beryllium copper alloy is often used as high-level precision elastic components, such as connectors, reversing switches, spring components, electrical contact sheets, elastic corrugations, and wear-resistant zero equipment, molds, and mining and petroleum industries for no impact Spark tools. Beryllium copper materials have been widely used in aerospace, electrical appliances, large power stations, home appliances, communications, computers, automobiles, meters, petroleum, mining and other industries, enjoying the reputation of being the king of non-ferrous metals elasticity.

2.Silver copper alloy

Silver-copper alloy is made by adding pure copper and pure silver to an electric melting furnace for smelting, after casting the blanks, and then processing them into finished products of various specifications. The main applications of silver-copper alloys are electrical contact materials, soldering materials, silver-copper alloy bars and copper-silver alloy contact wires.

Silver copper alloy type

Silver-copper alloy: a binary alloy of silver and copper, copper has a strengthening effect.

“Type: AgCu3, AgCu7.5, AgCul0, AgCu28 and AgCu55 alloys.

Application: Good electrical conductivity, fluidity and wettability, good mechanical properties, high hardness, wear resistance and welding resistance. There is a tendency to segregate. Smelted in a vacuum intermediate frequency furnace, the ingot can be cold processed into plates, sheets and wires after homogenization and annealing. It is used as the contact point, conductive ring and fixed contact piece of air circuit breaker, voltage controller, telephone relay, contactor, starter and other devices. Vacuum solders, commutators, coins, decorations and tableware, etc.

3.Nickel copper alloy

Nickel-copper alloy is usually called cupronickel. Pure copper and nickel can significantly improve strength, corrosion resistance, electrical resistance and thermoelectricity. It is mainly used in seawater desalination and seawater heat exchange systems, automobile manufacturing, shipbuilding industry, coins, resistance wires, and thermocouples. Industrial copper-nickel alloys can be divided into structural copper-nickel alloys and electrical copper-nickel alloys according to their performance characteristics and uses. They meet various corrosion resistance and special electrical and thermal properties.

Copper-nickel alloy application

Among copper alloys, cupronickel has excellent corrosion resistance and is easy to mold, process and weld. It is widely used as corrosion-resistant structural parts in shipbuilding, petroleum, chemical, construction, electric power, precision instruments, medical equipment, musical instruments and other sectors. . Certain cupronickel has special electrical properties, which can be used to make resistance elements, thermocouple materials and compensation wires. Non-industrial cupronickel is mainly used to make decorative crafts.

4. Tungsten copper alloy

Alloy of tungsten and copper. Commonly used alloys contain 10% to 50% copper. The alloy is prepared by powder metallurgy, which has good electrical and thermal conductivity, good high temperature strength and certain plasticity. At very high temperatures, such as above 3000°C, the copper in the alloy is liquefied and evaporated, absorbing a large amount of heat and reducing the surface temperature of the material. So this kind of material is also called metal sweating material. Tungsten copper alloy has a wide range of uses, mainly used to make the contacts of high-voltage electrical switches that resist arc ablation, rocket nozzle throat linings, tail rudders and other high-temperature components, as well as electrodes for electrical machining, high-temperature molds and other Applications requiring electrical and thermal conductivity and high temperature use.

Tungsten Copper Alloy Application

generally use powder alloy technology for production. This alloy is mainly used to make high-voltage contacts, used in circuit breakers, load switches, ring network cabinets and other high-voltage electrical appliances. It has excellent electrical corrosion resistance, welding resistance and voltage resistance. Tungsten copper alloy is also used in golf head accessories, shielding materials, and electrical materials.

5. Phosphor copper alloy

In 1954, the United States discovered that a small amount of phosphorus was added to the copper anode in the development of bright copper plating process for copper anodes. During the electroplating process, a black “phosphorus film” was formed on the surface of the copper anode. The “phosphorus film” has metal conductivity, controls the speed of electroplating, makes the coating uniform, no copper powder is produced, greatly reduces the generation of anode slime, and improves the quality of the coating. Thus, the “phosphorus copper anode” is a phosphor copper alloy product.

Phosphor copper alloy application

Phosphor copper alloys are mainly used in phosphor copper anodes for printed circuit boards, hardware, plastics, and electroforming; copper strips for electrical contacts and connectors; copper strips for lead frames; substitutes for motors, air conditioners, and refrigerators. Silver solder; deoxidizer for copper and copper alloy materials and grain refiner for aluminum alloy castings.

Copper is one of the earliest metals discovered by mankind. Pure copper is light rose or light red, after forming a copper oxide film on the surface, the appearance is purple. Copper has many valuable physical and chemical properties, for example, its thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity are very high, its electrical conductivity is second only to silver, and its thermal conductivity is second only to silver and gold; it has strong chemical stability and is easy to dissolve in the atmosphere and fresh water. , It has good corrosion resistance in sea water; high plasticity, can well withstand various cold and hot pressure processing, the disadvantage is that the strength and hardness are low, and generally not used as structural parts; good ductility, pure copper can be drawn into Very thin copper wire is made into very thin copper foil; it can form alloys with zinc, tin, lead, manganese, cobalt, nickel, aluminum, iron and other metals.

• ①Brass copper-zinc alloy. The color changes from yellowish red to yellowish as the zinc content increases. Brass has higher mechanical properties than pure copper, and it does not rust or corrode under normal circumstances; it has better plasticity and is widely used in machinery manufacturing to make various structural parts.
• ②Bronze-copper-tin alloy (except for zinc and nickel, Taijin with other elements added is called bronze). It has good wear resistance, mechanical properties, casting performance and corrosion resistance. The content of tin in the alloy generally does not exceed 10%, too high will reduce its plasticity. In addition to tin, tin bronze generally contains a small amount of zinc, lead, phosphorus, nickel and other elements. Zinc can improve the mechanical properties and fluidity of low tin bronze. Lead can improve the wear resistance and machinability of bronze, but it reduces its mechanical properties. Nickel can improve the toughness, hardness, wear resistance and fluidity of bronze.Special Bronze (Wuxi Bronze)—An alloy composed of special elements such as aluminum, nickel, manganese, silicon, iron, lead, etc., without tin in the steel-based alloy.
• ③ Cupronickel-copper-nickel alloy. Divided into structural copper-nickel alloy and electrical copper-nickel alloy. Structural copper-nickel alloy has high mechanical properties and good corrosion resistance. Electrician Copper Nickel