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Properties
It has a reddish color & tarnishes quickly. Arsenic
is added to harden it. Its melting point is 1981 F. It is a
very good conductor of heat and electricity.
Copper is very malleable, more than sterling silver, brass,
bronze, and nickel silver.
Copper is easier to shape & cannot be hardened by
heating. To harden, copper must be worked-that is, plain
or hammered, rolled thinner, drawn into a wire, etc.
Ordering
When ordering copper, state the thickness, hardness, and
size or shape desired. Copper and its alloys can be
purchased soft, half-hard and hard.
Soft copper is classified into 'hot rolled' and 'cold
rolled' annealed. Hot rolled means, the copper was rolled
into sheets while it was hot and thus the final product is
soft. A harder and smoother copper is obtained by rolling
the copper into sheets shile it is cold.
Cold rolled annealed copper is more malleable & should
be ordered for most art metal and jewelry objects.
Soft (annealed) copper is obtainable in rolls and in sheets.
The rolls usually run from 8" to 18" wide and from
18 gauge to 36 gauge in thickness. The standard sheets size
is 36" by 96" and the gauges run from 8 to 26.
Copper is also obtainable in the form of wire, tubing, rods,
circles, etc.
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