CORROSION RESISTANT BRUSH 1915 AND BRUSH 1916 ALLOYS FOR CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENTS

Underwater applications and other highly corrosive environments require strong materials that will not easily wear when exposed to harsh elements. Materion’s Brush 1915^® and Brush^® 1916 alloys (UNS C19150) are leaded nickel copper alloys that provide high strength and good formability with excellent corrosion resistance, including marine corrosion and biofouling.

Adding lead to these alloys improves machinability, acts as a lubricant and in the free machining grades, allows for chip break up. Brush 1915 and Brush 1916 are also free machining alloys, offering high levels of machinability without harming performance and keeping overall costs low for volume specific processes such as cold heading or cold forming.

ADVANTAGES OF FREE MACHINING LEADED NICKEL COPPER ALLOYS

Brush 1915 and Brush 1916, were developed with a unique precipitation hardening process, which enables a number of advantages, including:

• High tensile strength and yield strength
• Good resistance to stress
• Excellent machinability (70 percent of free-cutting brass)
• Excellent cold headability
• Excellent surface finish
• Good conductivity
• Close diameter control
• Microstructural consistency

These property combinations and benefits make Brush 1915 and 1916 alloys good alternatives for copper beryllium alloys used in machined or electrical contacts, connector pins and sockets. 

During heat treating, high performance copper alloy rod requires a little more care in machining. Read our Tech Brief, Producing Good Screw Machined Parts from High Performance Copper Alloy Rod, to learn how to avoid issues from automated machining processes.  

Learn more about physical and mechanical properties for Brush 1915 and Brush 1916 by downloading our data sheet.