Copper

About Copper and Copper Suppliers Including: Beryllium Copper, Brass Bar, Brass Plate, Brass Rod, Brass, Bronze, Copper Coil, Copper Pipe, Copper Sheet, Copper Strip, Copper Suppliers & Copper Tubes.

Copper is one of only a few metals that are found abundantly in nature. For over 10,000 years, copper has been supplied to humans for a multitude of purposes, because it is easy to mine and refine and has many excellent properties. Copper is a malleable and ductile metal, very soft in its pure state, and is also the best known economical conductor of electricity. It is nonmagnetic, machinable, formable and durable. Additional properties, such as hardness, can be reached by adding alloying elements. Copper has very good alloying characteristics. The two main types of copper alloys are copper primary alloys, which include brass and bronzes, and copper-bearing alloys, which contain only small amounts of copper, as in aluminum alloys and steels. The two most common copper alloys are brass and bronze, made from primarily copper and zinc and copper and tin respectively. Other copper alloys include copper-silver and copper-nickel.

Copper can be formed into many shapes for further manufacturing, such as strip, sheet, rod, wire, tube, bar, plate and powder. Four types of copper fabricators exist to create these products. First, powder plants create copper powder and flake, which can be used for such products as powdered metal parts. Copper Wire rod mills manufacture cold drawn wire and rod for use in electrical applications. Casting procedures are performed at foundries to create numerous products, using ingots and scrap copper as raw materials. Finally, brass mills use numerous processes, including hot and cold rolling, drawing, forging and extrusion, to create copper and copper alloy products. Because copper is soft in its pure state and not recommended for building applications, much of the manufacturing in brass mills is done with copper alloys. After forming a product, brass mills may also perform secondary operations, such as bending, stamping, joining or applying protective coatings.

A variety of uses are associated with copper and its alloys. Copper wire is an excellent, ductile and cost-effective conductor of electricity, and thus is used in many electrical applications. Copper is also a good conductor of heat in such products as heat exchangers and pressure vessels. Air conditioning and refrigeration systems often have copper tubing, which is not only able to transfer water but oil and chemicals as well. Because of its versatile properties, one of the most common materials used by copper suppliers for bearings is bronze. With the addition of lead, bronze bearings provide a lubricated, low friction surface. Copper, as a nonsparking metal, performs well in springs and tools. High-strength copper alloys make up components in the construction of airplanes, automobiles, subway cars, trains and space shuttles. Other diverse uses for copper alloys include valves, pumps, architectural fixings, coins, cooking ware, blades, offshore drilling equipment, roofing and microchips.

Copper is a sustainable metal for the future, because very little of the world's supply of copper has been mined. Copper is also one of the most commonly recycled metals, making copper scrap valuable, as much of it can be recycled and reused. In fact, almost as much copper is recycled as is mined every year. Copper is an economic choice for copper suppliers and many applications because it is typically long lasting and needs little maintenance. To help copper suppliers products achieve an even longer life, certain coating processes can protect the metal surface from weathering and prolong the natural reddish-gold color. Copper is highly reactive with oxygen and will develop a green patina over time, especially in areas with extreme environments or pollution. Besides this, copper will not corrode from contact with any other metal, although it will cause corrosion in others, especially aluminum and zinc.

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Copper Types

• Brass is a metal alloy containing copper and zinc.
• Bronze is a metal alloy containing copper and tin.
• Copper bars and copper rods are solid, straight uniform products of copper that can be extruded. These products have cross-sections in a variety of shapes, from circular to triangular, square and more.
  
• Copper and bronze bearings are the most popular type of sleeve bearing because of the versatility and excellent properties copper alloys offer.
  
• Copper pipe is made of a copper and has excellent electrical conductivity.
  
• Copper billets are large pieces of pure copper that can be cut into smaller lengths in order to be extruded or forged as copper tubing, rod or bar.
  
• Copper coil and copper wire are copper products with uniform cross-sections, available in several shapes. Copper is the best conductor of electricity of all the metals, except silver, and for this reason copper wire is common in electrical applications.
  
• Copper sheet is formed from the rolling process and can be used as roofing.
  
• Copper strip is a long sheet of metal with a length many times its width.
  
• Copper tubing is a hollow aluminum product, useful in HVAC, plumbing and similar applications where corrosion-resistant tubing and a high level of heat transfer are required.
  

Copper Terms

Aging - Various surface treatments that can be done to copper to produce an "aged" or "antique" look.

Bending - A mechanical process, by which rollers, bending shoes or mandrels are used to bend a curved section on metal tubes, rods or other shapes.

Brake Forming - A type of bending that can be used on sheet, strip or plate.

Brass - A copper alloy, primarily containing zinc.

Brazing - A method of joining metal pipe or tube by using a nonferrous filler material.

Bronze - A copper alloy, primarily containing tin.

Castings - Metal shapes produced from pouring molten metal into a mold and waiting for it to cool and solidify into the desired shape.

Cleat - A small copper strip that is used as a fastener for sheet copper components.

Cold Forging - The process of hammering a metal into shape at room temperature.

Deoxidized Copper - Copper that has had a deoxidizer, such as phosphorus, added to it in order to reduce oxygen.

Extrusion - A method of creating a metal shape with a uniform cross-section, by forcing heated metal through a die.

Flashing - Copper sheet that is used in construction in order to prevent or divert water penetration.

High Conductivity Copper - Standard copper that is used in electrical applications, capable of 100% electrical conductivity.

Hydroforming - A method of forming that involves using hydraulic pressure on sheet metal placed between a male die and a rubber piece.

Laminating - Bonding, usually with adhesives, of metal sheet or strip alloys to various substrates, including aluminum, plywood and steel. The resulting product is often very strong.

Mechanical Treatments - Treatments done to finish metal surfaces, including grinding, polishing and buffing.

Patina - The natural copper coating that results from atmospheric corrosion.

Roll Forming - The process of pressing metal sheet or strip between rollers.

Scrap - Metal that is leftover after cutting. Generally, this can be recycled.

Soldering - A method of joining that is used for watertight applications, such as for roofing and gutters.

Spinning - A method of forming a product by using a hand tool to shape a revolving metal piece.

Stamping - Using a die in a press or a hammer to shape metal sheet or strip.