strip rod Guide to Copper Beryllium wire bar tube plate Brush Wellman is the leading worldwide supplier of High Performance Copper Alloys, including Copper Beryllium. We provide manufacturing excellence in the form of high reliability products and services to satisfy our customers’ most demanding applications. We provide these services in a culture of local support and global teamwork. © 2002 Brush Wellman Inc. Cleveland, Ohio Product Guide - Strip Content Alloy Guide . 3 Wrought Alloys. 4 Wrought Products . 5 Physical Properties . 6 Product Guide . 7 Strip . 8 Temper Designations . 9 Mechanical and Electrical Properties. 10 Forming . 12 Stress Relaxation . 13 Wire. 14 Rod, Bar and Tube . 16 Plate and Rolled Bar. 18 Forgings and Extrusions . 20 Drill String Products . 21 Other Products and Services . 22 Engineering Guide. 23 Heat Treatment Fundamentals. 24 Phase Diagrams . 24 Cold Work Response . 25 Age Hardening . 26 Microstructures . 29 Cleaning and Finishing. 30 Joining-Soldering, Brazing and Welding. 31 Machining. 32 Hardness . 33 Fatigue Strength . 35 Corrosion Resistance . 36 Other Attributes . 37 Your Supplier . 39 This is Brush Wellman . 40 Company History. 40 Corporate Profile. 40 Mining and Manufacturing.. 41 Product Distribution . 42 Customer Service . 43 Quality . 43 Safe Handling . 44 2 Alloy Guide Wrought Alloys 4 Wrought Products 5 Physical Properties 6 The copper beryllium alloys commonly supplied in wrought product form are highlighted in this section. Wrought products are those in which final shape is achieved by working rather than by casting. Cast alloys are described in separate Brush Wellman publications. Although the alloys in this guide are foremost in the line that has established Brush Wellman’s worldwide reputation for quality, they are not the only possibilities. We welcome the opportunity to work with you in selecting or developing an alloy to make your application succeed. 3 Alloy Guide Wrought Alloys Brush Wellman manufactures copper beryllium in Brushform® 290 is a mill hardened strip product that is several distinct compositions. These fall into two similar in strength properties and composition to Alloy categories: alloys selected for high strength (Alloys 25, 190 but exhibits improved formability. Component 190, 290, M25 and 165) and alloys selected for high reliability and fabrication considerations may require a conductivity (Alloys 3, 10, 174 and Brush 60®). Alloy high strength material with good formability. The 390™ combines both attributes, high strength and improved strength/formability relationship of high conductivity. Brushform® 290 makes it a cost effective alternative Brush Alloy 25 is the most commonly specified copper to conventional mill hardened product for such beryllium and is available in the wrought forms listed applications. on page 5. In its age hardened condition, Alloy 25 Brush Alloy M25 offers the strength properties of Alloy attains the highest strength and hardness of any 25 with the added benefit of being “free machining”. commercial copper base alloy. The ultimate tensile Alloy M25 rod and wire contain a small amount of lead strength can exceed 200 ksi, while the hardness to provide an alloy tailored for automatic machining approaches Rockwell C45. Also, in the fully aged operations. Lead promotes formation of finely divided condition, the electrical conductivity is a minimum of chips thus extending cutting tool life. 22% IACS (International Annealed Copper Standard). Alloy 25 also exhibits exceptional resistance to stress Brush Alloy 165 contains less beryllium than Alloy 25 relaxation at elevated temperatures. and has slightly lower strength. It is less expensive than Alloy 25 and may be substituted when strength is less Brush Alloy 190 is a mill hardened strip product. In demanding. Alloy 165 is available in wrought product other words, the strip is age hardened to a specified forms in annealed and aged tempers. strength level as part of the manufacturing process at Brush Wellman prior to shipment. This alloy is similar Brush Alloys 3 and 10 combine moderate yield to Alloy 25 in chemical composition. Alloy 190 is strength, up to 140 ksi, with electrical and thermal supplied with tensile strength up to 190 ksi and conductivity from 45 to 60 percent of pure copper. Rockwell hardness to C42. Cost effectiveness is Alloys 3 and 10 are available in wrought product forms realized by elimination of age hardening and cleaning and can be supplied fully hardened. Hardened of stamped parts. products are identified by the temper designation AT or HT, and have good formability. Chemical Composition (weight percent) Copper Alloy Cobalt Brush UNS Cobalt + Nickel Alloy Number Beryllium Cobalt Nickel + Nickel + Iron Lead Copper 25 190 C17200 1.80-2.00 _ _ 0.20 min 0.6 max 0.02 max Balance 290 M25 C17300 1.80-2.00 _ _ 0.20 min 0.6 max 0.20-0.6 Balance 165 C17000 1.60-1.79 _ _ 0.20 min. 0.6 max _ Balance 3 C17510 0.2-0.6 _ 1.4-2.2 _ _ _ Balance 10 C17500 0.4-0.7 2.4-2.7 _ _ _ _ Balance 60 C17460 0.15-0.50 _ 1.0-1.4 _ _ _ Balance 174 C17410 0.15-0.50 0.35-0.60 _ _ _ _ Balance 390 C17460 0.15-0.50 _ 1.0-1.4 _ _ _ Balance Note: Copper plus additions equal 99.5% minimum. 4 Brush 60® and Brush Alloy 174 offer users the are available as mill hardened strip. opportunity to upgrade component performance over Alloy 390™ combines the best attributes of the two bronzes and brasses, particularly where conductivity separate families of commercial copper beryllium alloys and stress relaxation resistance are design considerations. – the strength of the “high strength” Alloy 25 with the Both are supplied with a yield strength up to 125 ksi, conductivity of “high conductivity” Alloys 3 and 174. superior to other copper alloys such as phosphor In addition to the combination of high strength and bronze, silicon bronze, aluminum brasses and the conductivity, Alloy 390™ has excellent stress relaxation copper-nickel-tin alloys. Furthermore, they offer up resistance at elevated temperatures. In applications to fivefold better electrical conductivity than those where durability is important, its excellent fatigue alloys, and exhibit better stress relaxation resistance. strength extends product life and improves product ® Brush 60 offers an excellent combination of elastic quality. Alloy 390™ is available as prehardened strip. modulus, strength, formability and conductivity. Both Wrought Products Wrought copper beryllium is available from Brush Wellman in a variety of product forms. The following paragraphs define the products most commonly speci- Standard Product Forms fied by copper beryllium users. Strip is flat-rolled product, other than flat wire, 0.188 Brush Alloy inch or less in thickness, and supplied in coil form. 190, 290 25, 10, 190, 290 Wire is a solid section other than strip, furnished in Form 165 390,174, 17460 3 M25 60 coils or on spools or reels. Wire may be furnished straightened and cut to length, in which case it is clas- Cold Rolled Strip ✓ __ ✓ sified as rod. Flat Wire ✓ __ _ Flat wire is 0.188 inch or less in thickness and 1-1/4 Rectangular Bar ✓ __ _ inch or less in width. This designation includes square Square Bar ✓ __ _ wire 0.188 inch or less in thickness. In all cases sur- Plate ✓ __ _ faces are rolled or drawn without having been slit, Cold Drawn sheared or sawed. Flat wire is furnished in straight Rod ✓✓✓ _ lengths or on spools or reels. Bar ✓✓✓ _ Rod is a round, hexagonal or octagonal solid section Tube ✓ __ _ Wire ✓ _ ✓ _ furnished in straight lengths. Rod is supplied in random ✓ ✓ or specific lengths. Shapes _ _ Bar is a solid rectangular or square section thicker than Hot Worked 3/ 16 inch and up to and including 12 inches wide. Rod ✓✓ __ Bar ✓✓ __ Bar is an extruded product. If cut from plate it is called ✓✓ rolled bar. Edges are either sharp, rounded, or have Plate __ Tube ✓✓ __ some other simple shape. Plate is flat-rolled product thicker than 0.188 inch and Special Shapes ✓✓ over 12 inches wide. Turned Rod __ Billets ✓✓ __ Tube is a seamless hollow product with round or other Forgings ✓✓ __ cross section. Tube is normally extruded or drawn, and Extrusions ✓✓ __ is supplied in random or specific length. Extruded shape is a solid section other than round, hexagonal, octagonal, or rectangular. Shapes are 5 Alloy Guide produced to the user’s specification and are supplied Custom fabricated parts are supplied to customer in straight lengths. drawings as finished or semi-finished parts. Such Forgings, made from cast billet, are supplied in forms products are fabricated from basic product forms ranging from simple geometric configurations to near- (rod, extrusions, plate, etc.) by processes such as net shapes according to user specifications. ring rolling, forging, welding and machining. Physical Properties Copper beryllium’s physical and mechanical properties The thermal expansion coefficient of copper berylli- differ considerably from those of other copper alloys um is independent of alloy content over the tempera- because of the nature and action of the alloying ele- ture range in which these alloys are used. The thermal ments, principally beryllium. Varying the beryllium expansion of copper beryllium closely matches that of content from about 0.15 to 2.0 weight percent pro- steels including the stainless grades. This insures that duces a variety of alloys with differing physical copper beryllium and steel are compatible in the same properties. Typical values of some of these properties assembly. are presented in the table on this page. Specific heat of copper beryllium rises with tempera- Whether a high strength or a high conductivity ture. For Alloys 25, M25 and 165, it is 0.086 Btu/(lb•F) alloy, some physical properties remain similar.