| 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. |
| Break Test (for tempered steel) | (english) A method of testing hardened and tempered high carbon spring steel strip wherein the specimen is held and bent across the grain in a vice-like calibrated testing machine. Pressure is applied until the metal fractures at which point a reading is taken and compared with a standard chart of brake limitations for various thickness ranges. |
| Bridling | (english) The cold working of dead soft annealed strip metal immediately prior to a forming, bending, or drawing operation. A process designed to prevent the formulation of Luder's lines. Caution-Bridled metal should be used promptly and not permitted to (of itself) return to its pre-bridled condition. |
| Bright Basic Wire | (english) Bright steel wire, slightly softer than Bright Bessemer Wire. Used for round head wood screws, bolts and rivets, electric welded chain, etc. |
| Bright Dipping | (english) Chemical polishing of aluminum, often by treatment with a mixture of nitric acid and phosphoric acid, yielding a mirror-shiny (specular) highly reflective surface. It is almost always followed by anodizing to protect the surface and provide some choice of color. |
| Brine | (english) A saltwater solution for quenching or cooling when heat treating steel. |
| Brinell Hardness | (english) The hardness of a metal or part, as represented by the number obtained from the ratio between the load applied on the spherical area of the impression made by a steel ball forced into the surface of the material tested. |
| Brinell Hardness Test | (english) A common standard method of measuring the hardness of materials. The smooth surface of the metal is subjected to indentation by a hardened steel ball under pressure. The diameter of the indentation, in the material surface, is then measured by a microscope and the hardness value is read from a chart or determined by a prescribed formula. |
| Brinell Hardness Testing | (english) Method of determining the hardness of materials; involves impressing a hardened ball of specified diameter into the material surface at a known pressure (10-mm ball, 500-kg load for aluminum alloys). The Brinell hardness number results from calculations involving the load and the spherical area of the ball impression. Direct-reading testing are generally used for routine inspection of forgings, and as a heat treat control function. |