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What is brass, bronze, cooper, Nu-gold and red Brass?
1. What is Brass?
Brass is a Copper-zinc alloy, also a term used to describe a memorial plate in a church, coinage or bearing block. Originally the term also covered copper-tin alloys now called bronzes. It is sometimes also used to describe a tin-zinc smelter made for the manufacture of organ pipes. Zinc percent: 30%-42%, copper percent: 70%-58%, usually in yellow color and widely used in brass jewelry.
Throughout history, brass has been loved by many people and cultures due to its malleability. There are stunning examples of brass jewelry from Iran, Eastern Europe and Egypt. Brass was one of the first metals to be used by humans in its natural occurring state. Brass was used as a substitute for stone by Neolithic humans around 8000 B.C.
brass castings first appeared around 4000 B.C. by the Egyptians, and 500 years later, around 3500 B.C., it was alloyed with tin to produce Bronze. One of brass first "commercial" uses was in the ancient production of mirrors due to its shimmering beauty and was associated in mythology and alchemy to the goddess Venues/Aphrodite. The name brass is derived from the Latin aes Cuprum, which means "metal of Cyprus," which was later shortened to cuprum, and later corrupted to cuprum.
2. What is Bronze?
Bronze is Copper-tin alloy, the term also loosely used for some other copper alloys, 67% cooper, and 30% tin, 3% lead or arsenic or aluminum. It is the oldest copper alloy, still ideal for statuary. The addition of tin to copper makes it easier to cast, strengthens and hardens the metal.
Bronze develops a patina, but does not oxidize like pure copper. Although the term "bronze" was originally applied to any copper alloy that contained tin, the term is now used generically to describe a variety of copper alloys, including aluminum bronze, manganese bronze, or silicon bronze.
Bronze jewelry was one of the first of these alternative uses, since bronze was soft enough to work with easily, yet hard enough to stand up to a lifetime of use. Additionally, bronze could be polished to a golden shine that was nearly as beautiful as actual gold, yet was a much more durable and cost-effective piece.
3. What is Copper?
Copper is a reddish brown nonferrous mineral used from the late stone age onwards. The Greeks and Romans both used the metal and its alloys, known as axe and aes. Since, according to Pliny, the Roman supply was chiefly drawn from Cyprus, it came to be termed ages cuprum, which was gradually shortened to Cyprians, and corrupted into cuprum, whence comes the English word copper, the French culver, and the German Kupfer. (Symbol - Cu.)
Numerous digs all over the world indicate that copper was used to make utensils, jewelry, and weapons. The metal is highly ductile, can be easily worked and pulled into wire. For cultures which had minimal or crude metalworking abilities, copper would have been easy to shape and work with. Copper is also easy to alloy, and many of the early metal alloys featured copper. In a natural state, copper is rarely found pure. It is compounded with other elements, and the material must be treated before it can be sold.
4. What is Nu-gold?
Nu-gold is a red brass alloy containing 12% zinc and 88% copper, a gilding metal used for decorative purposes.
It contain s no Nickel, perfect for those with nickel allergies. It has a mellow cast, very similar to gold. Nu-gold has been specially formulated for jewelry and is also known as “red brass,” “Merlin’s Gold,” and “Jeweler’s Bronze.” It has a rich warm color and if highly polished resembles gold without the high cost of gold; tarnishes considerable slower than copper, and easy to clean. It is a great complement to many gemstones. The look of Gold without the high price!
Red brass is copper-zinc-tin alloy known as gunmetal, and an alloy which is considered both a brass and a bronze. It typically contains 85% copper, 5% tin, 5% lead, and 5% zinc. Red brass is also an alternative name for copper alloy C23000, which is composed of 14–16% zinc, 0.05% iron and lead, and the remainder copper. It may also refer to ounce metal, another copper-zinc-tin alloy.
