Metal Notes
Short technical and purchasing notes for buyers comparing aluminum, stainless steel, carbon steel and copper alloy stock.
Ordering Speedy Metals 4140 cold finished annealed bar? The condition it ships in, not the grade name, decides what you can machine and how high it hardens.
Bare Speedy Metals 6061 extruded bar pits in salt spray because its corrosion resistance lives in the surface oxide, not the alloy. Finish it or pick 5052.
A threaded brass pipe tee fails by alloy mismatch, not torque. Match the grade to the service condition, then check stock and lead time.
Only iron, cobalt and nickel pull hard. Here is how a magnet test routes aluminum, brass, bronze and 18/10 stainless on a receiving dock, and when to trust it.
Copper and tin is the classic answer, but bronze grades like C93200, brass C36000 and copper C11000 split on wear, machining and conductivity.
Stop reading Canadian aluminium as one price. For buyers, the real market splits by sheet, plate, coil, and alloy, and supplier lead times often beat macro forecasts.
Only iron, nickel, cobalt, and their alloys stick to a magnet. Aluminum, copper, brass, and bronze do not; stainless steel depends on its phase.
Bronze is an alloy family built on copper, with tin as the signature secondary metal; specialty grades add aluminum, nickel, or other metals for demanding service.
A seized brass tee on a coastal service line shows why alloy choice beats thread size. Match brass, bronze, or copper to the medium before ordering.
Bronze is a copper-tin alloy, not copper-zinc. Learn how to pick the right bronze grade for bearings, marine parts, and machining jobs.