Stress relaxation resistant brass
AssigneeOlin Corporation
InventorsJohn F. Breedis, Ronald N. Caron, Carl L. Deppisch
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Abstract
An alpha brass (copper/zinc alloy with less than 39%, by weight, of zinc) stock alloy has controlled additions of nickel, tin and phosphorous. The combination of nickel and tin increase resistance of the alloy to elevated temperature stress relaxation. As a result, spring contacts formed from alloys of the invention maintain a higher percentage of initially imposed stress at elevated temperatures, in the range of 125° C. to 150° C., for significantly longer times than other brass alloys of comparable strength.
Claims8
A brass alloy, consisting, by weight, of:
- from 2% to the maximum that maintains an alpha brass microstructure of zinc;
- from 0.2% to 2% nickel;
- from 0.15% to 1% tin;
- from 0.033% to 0.2% phosphorous;
- optional from 0.07% to 0.25% iron;
- from about 2 ppm to about 50 ppm of oxygen, sulfur, carbon or a mixture thereof;
- less than 2% in total of bismuth, lead, tellurium, sulfur and selenium;
- less than 0.25% each and 1% in total of magnesium, aluminum, silver, silicon, cadmium, antimony, manganese, cobalt, germanium, arsenic, gold, platinum, palladium, hafnium, zirconium, indium, antimony, chromium, vanadium and titanium;
- and
- the balance copper and inevitable impurities with a nickel:phosphorous weight ratio of between 4.5:1 and 9:1.
The electrical connector of claim 8 having a conductivity equal to or greater than 35% IACS and a resistance to stress relaxation at least a 125° C. operating temperature formed from the alloy of claim 6 in a relief anneal temper.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.