Metal Glossary

Designed to be a quick reference guide for customers, the Cashmores glossary provides definitions of the latest metal industry terms.

Metal Glossary

Designed to be a quick reference guide for customers, the Cashmores glossary provides definitions of the latest metal industry terms.
  • Stamping Brass
    Hot Stamping Brass
    CW617N / CZ122 Brass formulated to be most suitable for hot stamping.
  • Stress Corrosion
    Stress Corrosion is the rapid and often abrupt failure of a normally ductile metal or alloy caused by residual or other stresses in the work-piece and in the presence of specific corroding agents. It is temperature dependent. Alpha Brasses are susceptible in atmospheres that contain Ammonia. The effect can be mitigated to some extent by a stress relieving heat treatment but, if the service conditions pose any risk of stress corrosion, an alternative alloy such as Aluminium Bronze is preferred.
  • Temper
    A term used to describe the degree of work hardening in a cold worked, usually rolled, material. The range is from “fully annealed” to “fully hard”. For Alpha Brasses the intermediate quarter hard or half hard tempers are usually achieved by temper annealing fully hard material. Copper sheet and strip can be given the correct temper by temper rolling, starting with fully annealed material.
    Related Terms: Annealing
  • Tough Pitch Copper
    An obsolete term for Copper that has been cast with a deliberate Oxygen addition (typically 0.01 % - 0.05%) to improve electrical conductivity. The metal may have first been either the electrolytically or fire refined.
  • Work Hardening
    The process of increasing the strength and hardness of a metal or alloy by cold deformation e.g. cold rolling, deep drawing, cold forging, hammering or cold extrusion. Work-hardening is sometimes referred to as 'cold work'.
  • Wrought Product
    A product that has shaped, after casting, by either hot or cold deformation such as rolling, forging or extrusion.