Caring for Cultural Material 1

Caring for Cultural Material 2

Damage and Decay

Managing Collections

Managing People

Handling, Transportation, Storage and Display

Glossary

Index

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Caring for Cultural Material 2
In this volume:
– Textiles
– Leather
– Wood
– Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Material
arrow Metals
– Outdoor Collections
– Acknowledgments
Metals
In this chapter:
– Objectives
– Introduction
– Metal objects in collections
– Common metals
– The nature of metals
– What are the most common types of damage?
– Common causes of damage
– Handling, storage and display guidelines
– Metals in Australia’s climatic zones
– Care of particular metals
– Silver
– Nickel silver
– Copper and copper alloys
– Iron and its alloys
– Plated iron
– Lead and pewter
– Tin and its alloys
– Aluminium
– Gold
  MORE ABOUT METALS
– Alloys
– Corrosion of metals
– Electroplate
– Zinc carbonate blotter
arrow Brasses
– Bronzes
– Iron and steel
– Bentonite paste
– Chloride ions and aluminium and its alloys
– Spot-tests
– For further reading
– Self-evaluation quiz
– Answers to self-evaluation quiz

 

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Metals

Brasses

The addition of varying amounts of zinc—Zn—to copper—Cu—produces a wide range of industrial brasses of differing physical and mechanical properties. These include:

  • gilding metal. The addition of only 5% zinc produces this alloy, which is commonly used as an artificial gold in decorative uses;

  • red brass: 85% copper/15% zinc. In this alloy, the underlying red colour of copper is still present;

  • yellow brass: 65% copper/35% zinc. The addition of more zinc hardens the alloy and changes the colour. This alloy is used for a wide range of industrial purposes, such as hinges, taps and valves; and

  • muntz metal: 60% copper/40% zinc. This alloy has a variety of uses, including sheathing for wooden sailing vessels.

In order to improve the ease of machining, varying amounts of lead are added to the hard brass alloys. Brasses containing more than 5% lead are self-lubricating, a very important factor for bearings and other similar objects.

 

 

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