| Beryllium Copper | (english) An alloy of copper and 2-3% beryllium with optionally fractional percentages of nickel or cobalt. Alloys of this series show remarkable age-hardening properties and an ultimate hardness of about 400 Brinell (Rockwell C43). Because of such hardness and good electrical conductivity, beryllium-copper is used in electrical switches, springs, etc. |
| Binary Alloy | (english) An alloy containing two elements, apart from minor impurities, as brass containing the two elements copper and zinc. |
| Bismuth | (english) Chemical symbol Bi. A soft, course cystalline heavy metal with a silvery white color and pinkish tinge; usually produced as a by-product of copper,leaad and other metals. Has a thermal conductivity lower than all other metals except mercury. Used as alloying agent but leading use is in pharmaceuticals. |
| Black Annealing | (english) A process of box annealing or pot annealing ferrous alloy sheet, strip or wire after hot working and pickling. |
| Blue Brittleness 2 | (english) Reduced ductility occurring as a result of strain aging, when certain ferrous alloys are worked between 300 and 700 (degrees) F. This phenomenon may be observed at the working temperature or subsequently at lower temperatures. |
| Box Annealing | (english) Annealing a metal or alloy in a sealed container under conditions that minimize oxidation. In box annealing a ferrous alloy, the charge is usually heated slowly to a temperature below the transformation range, but sometimes above or within it, and is then cooled slowly; this process is also called close annealing or pot annealing. |
| Box Annealing 2 | (english) A process of annealing a ferrous alloy in a closed metal container, with or without packing materials, in order to minimize the effects of oxidation. The charge is normally heated slowly to a temperature below the transformation range, but occasionally above or within it, and then is slowly cooled. |
| Brass | (english) An alloy that is 70% copper,30% zinc. One of the most widely used of the copper-zinc alloys; malleable and ductile; excellent cold-working but poor hot-working and machining properties; excellent for soft-soldering; good for silver alloy brazing or oxyacetylene welding, but fair for resistance or carbon-arc welding. Used for drawn cartridges, tubes, eyelets machine items and snap fasteners. |
| Brasses | (english) Copper base alloys in which zinc is the principal alloying element. Brass is harder and mechanically stronger than either of its alloying elements copper or zinc. It is formable and ductile; develops high tensile strength with cold-working and is not heat treatable. |
| Brazing | (english) Joining metals by fusion of nonferrous alloys that have melting points above 800 F (425C), but lower than those of the metals being joined. May be accomplished by a torch. Filler metal is ordinarily in rod form in torch brazing; whereas in furnace and dip brazing the work material is first assembled and the filler metal may then be applied as wire, washers, clips, bands, or may be bonded, as in brazing sheet. |