PREFACE 



Copper has certain basic properties that have rendered it of unusual 

 significance in the development of our industrial economy. Copper in 

 itself possesses the valuable properties of high electrical conductivity, high 

 thermal conductivity, reasonable strength, great maUeabUity, and an excel- 

 lent resistance to the corrosive action of the atmosphere, sea water, and 

 many chemical media. 



Copper can be alloyed readUy Avith many other metals and in com- 

 mercial practice such alloying is resorted to extensively where it is desired 

 to improve certain of the basic properties of copper itself and where such an 

 improvement can be effected with the sacrifice only of such other properties 

 as are of limited significance in the application intended. 



Although many variations in properties are obtained through a control 

 of alloy constituents, there are further controllable variations that are 

 introduced in each case by the method of fabrication. 



It is necessary that the engineer or technician in contemplating the 

 use of copper-base alloys or in specifying the properties of a specific alloy 

 for a given use be fully aware of the limitations to which the specific aUoy 

 is subject as well as of the interrelationship that exists between properties. 



It is equally essential that the fabricator have data at hand by which 

 to establish alloying, working, and annealing schedules directed toward the 

 production of material to meet a particular specification. 



R. A. WiLKINS, 



E. S. BUNN. 



Rome, N. Y., 

 March, 1943. 



