Brass

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. Typically it is more than 50 % copper. Some types of brass are called bronzes, despite their high zinc content.

Brass is a versatile manufacturing material because of its hardness and workability. Alpha brasses, with less than 35% zinc, are malleable, can be worked cold, and are used in pressing, forging, or similar. Alpha-beta brass is 35-45 % zinc and is suited for hot working. Beta brasses, with 45-50 % zinc content, can only be worked hot, is harder and stronger, suitable for casting. White brass, with more than 50 % zinc, is too brittle for general use. Some types of brass have other metals added to modify their properties.

Decorative brass paperweight, along with copper and zinc samples

Brass has a yellow colour, somewhat similar to gold. Because of this, and its relative resistance to tarnishing it is used as a decoration.

The malleablity and acoustic properties of brass have made it the metal of choice for musical instruments such as the trumpet. Instruments where the sound is produced by the vibration of the musician's lips are collectively known as brass instruments.

Brass has been known to man since prehistoric times, long before zinc itself was discovered. It was produced by melting copper together with calamine, a zinc ore. During this process, the zinc is extracted from the calamine and instantly mixes with the copper. Pure zinc, on the other hand, is too reactive to be produced by ancient metalworking techniques.

In some English dialects brass means money. There is an expression, "where there's muck there's brass". As brass is sometimes used as an inexpensive substitute for gold, the term "brassy" has come to mean showy and tasteless.

In the King James version of the Bible, there are different versions of brass mentioned. In 2 Chronicles, (written around 400 to 500 BC) 4vs16 speaks of a "bright brass" in the verse, "The pots also, and the shovels, and the fleshhooks, and all their instruments, did Hu'ram his father make to king Solomon for the house of the LORD of bright brass."

See also

• Calamine brass — brass alloy and manufacturing process from discovery until the late 18th century
• Prince's metal — an alpha brass
• Bronze — an alloy of copper with tin and optionally zinc, silicon, nickel and other metals
• Cupronickel — an alloy of copper with nickel
• Brass instrument — a musical instrument usually made of brass
• Brass rubbing — reproduction of brasses, commemorative plates laid down in British and European churches from the 13th Century onwards
• In the military, the brass are senior officers, who wear metal adornments sometimes made of brass.
• Brass refers to empty shell casings ejected from a firearm.