Thermal expansion of some copper alloys · PDF fileOne sample of tellurium aluminum bronze was investigated to 4000 C. II. Materials Investigated Two ... copper-silicon alloy, type

U. S . Departmen t of Commerce National Bureau of Standards

Research Paper RP1838 Volume 39, November 1947

Part of the Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards

Thermal Expansion of Some Copper Alloys By Peter Hidnert and Harrison S. Krider

This paper gives the results of an in vestigation on t he linear thermal expall sion of some

brasses, bron zes, and other copper alloys for various temperature ra nges between room

temperature and 3000 c. The coefficients of expansion of tellurium copper (0.6% of tellurium) a re in close agree­

men t ,,"ith t he coe ffi cients of expansion of electroly t ic copr;er (99.97 %) . The ad dition of

10 percen t of aluminum , 2 percent of iron , a nd 0.4 per cen t of tellu riu m to copper had s light

e ffect on th e coeffi cients of expansion.

Figures 1 a nd 2 of t he paper s umm ar ize t he coe ffi cients of expa nsion of copper-z in c alloys

a nd copper-n ickel alloys with and without addi t ion of other elements, from t he pre ent and

previous investigations. The curve for copper-zin c alloys shows that t he coeffici en ts of

expansion in crease with in crease in t he zin c conte nt . A change in t he slope of this curve

du e to a change f rom alpha brasses to beta brasses was noted. T he a dd ition of 10 to 18

perce nt of nickel to copper-zin c alloys r educed the coe ffi cie nts of expansion to a marked

ext-ent, but the addition of t in , lead , or aluminum increased t he coefficients of expansion.

The cur ves for co pper-nickel alloys in figure 2 indi cate t hat t he coe ffi cients of expansion

decrease with in crease in t he nickel conte nt. The cu rvilinear relation between the co­

e ffi cie nts of expansion and nickel conte nt (a tomic percent) of copper-nick el alloys is typical

of relations for propert ies of binary alloys having structures compo ed of sol ic! solut ions.

1. lntrodudion III. Apparatus

This paper gives the results of an investigation on the linear thermal expansion of some brasses, bronzes, and copper alloys for various temperature ranges between room temperature and 300 0 C. One sample of tellurium aluminum bronze was investigated to 400 0 C.

II. Materials Investigated

Two types of precision micrometric thermal­expansion apparatus described by Hidnert [1], 1 and Souder and Hidnert [3] were used for determining the linear thermal expansion of the samples. A stirred liquid bath was used for determinations in t he range from 20 0 to 300 0 C and an ail' type heating chamber for determinations in the range from 20 0 to 400 0 C.

The chemical compositions and the treatmen ts of the materials investigated are given in table 1. The samples, the values for chemical compositions, and information about the treatments were furn­ished by Chase Brass &; Copper Co. , Waterbury, Conn.

The length of each ample used in the determina­tions of linear thermal expansion ·was 300 mm (11.8 in. ) . The cross sections of the samples were circular, with diameters of 0.20 to 0.37 111 .

(5 to 9 mm) .

Thermal Expansion of Some Copper Alloys

IV. Results and Discussion

The observations 2 obtained on heating and cooling the samples to various temperatures were plo tted . The expansion and contraction curves 2

for all of the samples except 171 and 1719 showed no irregularities. The expansion curves of sam­ples 1718 and 1719 indicated an irregularity be-

1 F igures in brackets ind icate the literature references at the end of this paper.

, Neither the observations nor the curves are presented in this paper.

419

TABLE 1. Coefficients of linear expansion of some copper alloys

Sam­ple Alloy

C hemical composition.

Cu Ni Zn AI Fe Te P Other

Ph ele-ments

Treatment

Average coefficien ts of expansion per d egree cen tigrade

Test l--- - --,-------;-- ·-.-----.-­nO,b

20° to 20° (0 20° to 20° to 20° to 20° to 60° C 100° C 200° C 250° C 300° C 400° C

--1------1--1-- ------ --------1·----------1-- --- - ------ - -Per- Per- Per- Per- P er- P er- Per- PeT- PeT-cent cent cent cent cent cent cent cent cent XIO--<I XIO--<I XlO-6 XIQ--<1 X IO--<l X IO -6

Electrol y t i c 99. 97 ---- _____ ___ __ ______ __ ___ _____ ______ ______ ____ ______ ___________ _________ _________ d 16. 6 d 16.8 d 17.3 ______ d 17. 7 ' 17.

copper [1] .'

1740 Tellurium cop- 99. 27 0.01 0.06 __ ___ 0.0030.65. ___ 0.003. __ ___ Cold drawn and annealed at per. 1,100° F.

1716 Phosnic bronze_ 98. 47 1.19 __ ____ __ _______ _ __ __ 0.26 ___ ____ ______ Quenched from 1,450° F, agc

bardened at 850° F for 1 hour, and aged at room temperature for 18 months.

1H 16. 8 lC - -.---

1H 16.5

IC __ . ___

17.0 17. 5 ----.-

17.0 17.4 - - ----

16.8 17.3 17.5

16.8 17.4 - -----

1717 Copper-silicon 97. 39 0.04 11. 14 ___ __ .0.02 -- -- --__ < 0.01 Si Annealed at 1,200° F _________ __ _ glB 16.8 17.1 17.6 _____ _ alloy (SlJicon 1. 41 l C ______ 17.2 17.6 ____ _ _ bronze, type B).

1718 Tellurium nickel 88.84 1.15 19. 28 ___ __ ____ _ 0. 52 0.21 ____ ___ __ ____ Quenched from 1,450° F, age

brass' hardened at 850° F for 1 hour, and agcd at room temperatnre [or 19 months.

1718A _____ do , __ __ _____ 88.84 1.15 19. 28 __ __ _ __ ___ .52 .21 -- __________ . Quench ed [rom 1,450° F , age

hardened a t 850° F [or 1 hour, and aged at room temperature [or 39 months.

1719 ____ .do , _______ __ 88. 84 1.15 '19.28 - - ______ __ .52 . 21 _______ ____ __ Quenched [rom 1,450° F, cold

drawn 34 percent, age hard­ened at 770° F for 1 h our and aged at room temperature for 18 months;

1719A _____ do ,__ ___ ___ _ 88.84 1. 15 19.28 _____ __ ___ . 52 . 21 ____ __ _ ____ __ Quenched from 1,450° F, cold

drawn 34 percent, age h ard­ened at 770° F for 1 h our, and aged at room temperature for 40 month ••

1720 Tellurium alu- 88.13 __ ___ . ___ __ 19.50 1. 95 . 42 ____ ___ __ __ ____ __ Extru ded at about 1,550° F and

minnm bronze. aged at room tem perature for 18 months.

1720A _____ do ______ __ __ 88.13 __ _______ __ 19.50 1. 95 . 42 ______ _______ __ __ Extruded at about 1,550° F and

aged at room temperature for 40 m onths.

1721 Aluminum brass_ 76.60 ____ _ 121. 47 1. 91 0.02 ____ ___ _ < 0.05 __ ____ Annealed at 1,200° F_

1722 Copper (70)- 169.4229.93 0. 05 ___ __ . 07 ____ ___ _____ __ _ nickel (30) al-

Mn Annealed at 1,300° F _________ _ 0.53

loy .

• All compositions in this paper are given in percent b y weight except where indicated otherwise. b H indicates heating and C, cooling. , Added for comparison w ith tellurium copper and the copper alloys in this tahle. d From Bidnert [1] . • From Esser and Eusterbrock [2] for electrolyt ic copper annealed at 1,020° C_ I By difference.

• Before t h is test, sample was h eated to 300° C and cooled to room temperature. h Irregularity in expansion curve between 200° and 300° C.

1H 17.0 17.2 17. 6 -- - ---IC -- --. - 17. 4 17.9 --._- -2B 17.3 17.4 17.9 18.2 2C --- - -- 17.4 17.9 ------

1H ______ 17.2 17.7 18.0 lC ______ __ ________ ______ _ _

IB 17.2 17.3 17. 7 - -- ---lC ------ 17.5 17. 7 ---- - -

2H 17. 2 17.4 17.8 18.0 2C ------ 17.4 17.8 ---- - -

1H 17.4 17.5 17. 9 18. 0 lC ------ 17.5 17.8 - --- - -

1H 16. 6 17.0 17.1 -- - -- -l C -- ---- 17.0 17. 4 ------

2B 16.7 16. 9 17.3 - - - ---2C - __ ___ 16.9 17.4 ------

lB 16.4 16.6 17.0 - -----

lC 16.5 16. 8 --- --- --- ---

1H 17.8 17.9 18.6 - - - ---lC ----- - 18.0 18.5 ---- --

1H 15.2 15.4 16. 0 -- ----

lC -- --- - 15.4 15.9 ------

, Formerly known as Telnic bron ze. All of t he zinc has been esseutially omitted from Telnic hronze manufactured at the present time.

17.9 ------17.9 ----- -

17.7 ------

17.7 ---- --

18.0 ____ _ _ 18.1 _____ _

h 17. 7 -- - -- -18,4 -- - - .-

18.4 -- - ---18.4 ---- - -

18.2 ___ _ __ 18.0 ____ _ _

h 17. 7 ------

18. I ------

18. 1 ------

18. 1 ------

18.2 ------

18.2 -- - ---

17.6 - - - -- -

17.8 ---- - -

17. 9 - - --- -17_ 9 ------

17.8 18.7 ----- - 18.6

19.5 ------

19.3 -- - -- -

16. 4 -- -- --16.5 ---- --

420 Journal of Research

-------

tween 200 0 and 3000 C during the first heating. However, on repeated heating to 3000 C, no ir­regularities were observed.

Table 1 gives the coefficients of linear thermal expansion that were computed from the curves obtained on heating and on cooling. The coeffi­cients obtained during the first cooling between the maximum temperature and 20 0 C should ap­ply for repeated heating and cooling tluough this temperature range.

The maximum difference between the coeffi­cients of expansion of the samples of tellurium copper and Phosnic bronze is 0.3 X 10- 6• The co­efficients of expansion of these samples are in close agreement ·with the coeffi cients of expansion reported by Hidnert [1] for electrolytic copper , nickeliferous copper (Ni 0.35 %) and arsenical copper (As 0.54 % ).

N early all of the coefficients of expansion of the copper-silicon alloy, type B, containing 1.1 percent of zinc and 1.4 percent of silicon, are slightly larger than the coefficients of expansion of tel­lurium copper.

An examination of the coefficients of expansion of the samples of tellurium nickel brasses and aluminum bra shows that the addition of zinc to copper increased 3 the coefficients of expansion, as was previously shown by Hidner t [1].

The addition of approximately 10 percent of aluminum, 2 percent of iron, and 0.4 percent of tellurium to copper had slight effect on th e co­efficients of expansion for temperature ranges between 20 0 and 300 0 C (see tellurium aluminum bronze). However, an increase of 0.8 X lO- 6 was noted for the range from 20 0 to 400 0 C.

The addition of 30 percent of nickel and 0.5 percent of manganese to copper decreased the coefficients of expansion by as much as 1.4 X 10- 6•

Figure 1 summarizes coefficients of expansion

3 Except for the range from 20° to 300° C on samples 1718 and 17 19 during t he fi rst heating.

Thermal Expansion of Some Copper Alloys

of copper-zinc alloys with and without additions of other elements, for the range from room tem­perature (or 0 0 C) to 300 0 C, from the presen t and previous investigations [1 , 4, 5, 6, 7] . The curve represents the relation between the coeffi­cients of expansion and the zinc content of the copper-zinc alloys without the addition of other elements in excess of 0.5 percent. This curve shows that the coefficient of expansion increases with increase in the zinc content. The broken portion of the curve indicates a change in slope due to a change from the alpha brasses to beta brasses. The addition of 10 to 18 percent of nickel to copper-zinc alloys reduced the coeffi­cients of expansion to a marked extent, but the addition of tin, lead or aluminum increased the coefficients of expansion. The effect of treatmen t on some alloys is also indicated in figure 1.

Figure 2 gives a similar summary of the coeffi­cients of expansion of copper-nickel alloys with and wi.thout additions of other clements, for several temperature ranges between - 1830 and + 300 0 C, from the present and previous investiga tions [1 , and 6 to 12 inclusive]. The curve represent the relations between the coefficients of expansion and the nickel conten t of the copper-nickel alloys without the addition of other clements in excess of 0.5 percen t . These curves indicate tha t the coefficients of expansion decrea e with increase in the nickel content. The upper curve was drawn as a broken line, for there are not sufficient data available for the binary alloys. The curvilinear relation between the coefficients of expansion and nickel content (atomic percent) of copper-nickel alloys is typical of relations for properties of binary alloys having structures composed of olid solu­tions.

Data on the linear thermal expansion of other copper alloys investigated at the National Bureau of Standards have been published in previous papers [1, 7, and 13 to 17, inclusive].

421

-

23XIO-~---------,-----------r~--------r----------'----------'-----------r----------'----------,---------~

z o Ui z

2 2

21

it 20 x w "­o U) f-­Z 1.Ll 19 U

u: "­w o u

w

'" « 0:: w ~

18

17

16

AI 4 .8 , Mo 3.5 , Fe 2 .6 0 G

fe I.-r 7. !>I i 13.'l. ,

o 1. !>Ii 15.7 o

ONi II, re 1.5) Mn 0.5 o

• o

Sn 1.5, Fe l.0oE

Pb 0.7.A

Sn 0 .70 H ~.\.O ~~sn\·Ij,

no5'o%~ " S Q ~()OC,n ".-'"

:t' .-

sn oJo '" ED o

25 0 TO 300 0 C

2 0 0 TO 300 0 C

0° T O 3 00 0 C

1 5 ~ ________ ~ ________ -L ________ ~ __________ ~ ________ ~ ________ ~ __________ ~ ________ ~ ________ ~

o 10 15 20 2 5 30 35 40 45

F IGURE 1. CoeJficients oj linear expansion of coppe" -zinc alloys with and without additions of other elements.

All plotted poi nts represent values for cold-rolled alloys except those marked with one or more of the following symbols: A, Annealed; C, cast; D, drawn; E, extruded; lJ, hot-rolled; Q, quenched ; T, tempered; X, aged at room tem perature about 18 months; Y, aged at room temperature about 40 months; and Z, unknown treatment.

422 Journal of Research

�8X�06,r----------r---------,~--------,---------~----------r----------r---------,----------,----------r--------~

17

z ~'6 <f)

z .. Q.

)( UJ

--- --- ---

o 20° TO 300° C

_ 00 TO 300°C

--- - So 7 .9 S n 17.4- ---

--0--- ZO Mn2 . 3, F. ,. e So 0.90 Mo 0 .5 - -_

COZO e .9,Fe e .e,s ;D:7,Pi, ~flZ o C Zn7,Fe6

C Fe4 .9, Mo O. 9

~15 ~--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~ <f) .... z UJ

" ~ 14 ... UJ o

" '" <0 .. 0: 13

'" > .. 12

• -182° 10 + OOG

o

II L-______ ~ ________ _L ________ ~ ________ ~ ______ ~ ________ _L ________ ~ ________ L_ ______ _J ________ _"

o 35 40 45 50 PERCENT NICKEL

FIGURE 2. Coe.fJicients of linwl' expansion oj copper-nickel alloys with and without additions of other elements.

AJI plotted points represent val ues fo r an nealed alloys except those marked with one or more of the following sym bols: C, Cast; D, drawn; E, extruded ; II. hot~rolled; Q, quenched; T, tempered; and Z, unknown treatment .

Thermal Expansion of Some Copper Alloys 423

V. References

]1] P . Hidnert, BS Sci. Pap. 17, 91 (1922) S410. [2] H. Esser and H. Eusterbrock, Archiv. Eisenhutten­

we~en 14, 341 (1941). [3] W. Souder and P . H idnert, BS Sci. Pap. 21, 1 (1926-

27) S524. [4] Dittenberger and Gehrcke, Z. Instrumentenk. 22, 112

(1902) . [5J H. von Steinwehr and A. Schulze, Z. Metallkunde 26,

130 (1934). [6] M. Coo k, J . lnst. Meta ls 58, 151 (1936) . [7] P. Hidnert and G. Dickson , J. Research N BS 31, 77

(1943) RP1550. [8] L. Holborn and A. Day, Ann. Physik <1, 104 (1901). [9] H enning, Z. I nstrumentenk. 27, 115 (1907).

{101 H . Sieglerschmidt, Mitt. Prufungsamt 38, 182 (1 920). [l1] A. Krupkowski and W. J . De H aas, Communications

Phys. Lab. Univ. Leiden 18, No. 194b (1928)

424

(Translated from Verslag van de Gewone Verga­dering der Afdeeling Natuurkunde van de Konink­lijke Akademie van Wetenschappen t e Amsterdam (27 October 1928) , Deel XXXVII, 810- 818); or A. Krupkowski , Rv. Met . (Memoires) 26, 131, ]93 (1929) .

[12] S. Aoyama and T. I to, Sci. Repor ts T ohoku Imp. Univ. 27, 348 (1939) .

{13] W. P . Price and P . D avidson, Trans. Am. I nst. Metals 10,133 (1916) . See appendix (pp. 151 to 164) for data on thermal expansion by L. W. Schad and P . Hidnert.

[141 P. D . Merica and L. W. Sch ad, Bn!. BS 14, 571 (1919) S32l.

[15] P. Hidnert, BS J . R esearch 12, 391 (1934) RP665. [16] P. H idner t, J . R esearch N BS 16, 529 (1936) RP890. [17] P . Hidnert., J. Research NBS 30, 75 (1943) RP]518.

WA SHINGTON, June 9, 1947.

Journal of Research