Special Nickel Brasses

EXCEPT for the work of Guillet, who conducted a systematic investigation on the zinc-replacing value of nickel in brass, and extended his investigation with a view to developing commercial high zinc content nickel brasses, the author does not know of any systematic research on the subject. The most promising commercial alloys and their physical properties obtained by Guillet are given below: Maximum Elonga- Reduction Copper Zinc Nickel Stress, tion, of Area, Brinell Tons Per Per Cent. Per Cent. Sq. In. 55.0 41.0 5.0 24.4 46.5 94 Sand cast. 22.6 27.0 90 Chill cast. 56.7 39.74 3.35 30.0 43.0 51.7 97 Casting annealed 2 hr. at 750° C. 33.9 33.0 50.7 144 Cold-drawn bar. 55.15 42.3 2.24 29.8 33.0 116 Casting annealed 2 hr. at 750° C. 32.3 29.0 151 Cold-drawn bar. These test results scarcely justify the use of such quantities of so expensive a metal, and could have been obtained from ordinary commercial brass. For purposes of comparison, the physical properties of ordinary brasses, ranging from 70 per cent. to 50.1 per cent. Cu in both the cast and normalized1 conditions are included in Table 1. These incidentally furnish a useful standard of the properties of castings and of rolled, extruded and forged brass when correctly annealed. A close study of some of the well-known special brasses containing nickel reveals a series of alloys which bewilder by their complexity, and one can only hazard a guess at the function and commercial value of each of the many elements used.