Wrought Copper

The occurrence of copper in earth's crust is relatively small, which makes it expensive and recycling necessary. Pure Cu has excellent corrosion resistance and high electric and thermal conductivity. The crystal structure of Cu is FCC, therefore the formability (hot and cold) is excellent. Cold deformation (retaining electrical and thermal conductivity) can result in strengths even higher than those of plain carbon steel. In general, wrought alloys offer better mechanical properties than cast alloys, because of the anisotropy caused by the forming process. Cu is alloyed to increase mechanical and manufacturing properties and resistance against wear and corrosion. Alloying decreases electrical conductivity.  Most important wrought Cu alloys are Cu-Zn (brass) alloys. Possibilities of cold deformation are even increased by Zn amounts until about 30 wt.%. Zn yields an important solution strengthening, but this effect is even higher in the case of Sn. Alloying with Ni yields an increase in corrosion resistance.