Application in Architecture
Pipeline system: Steel water pipes have many advantages such as beautiful and durable, easy installation, safety and fire protection, and health care, making them have a significantly superior price-performance ratio compared with galvanized steel pipes and plastic pipes. In residential and public buildings, they are increasingly favored by people for water supply, heating, gas supply and fire sprinkler systems, and have become the current preferred material. In developed countries, copper water supply systems have accounted for a large proportion. The Manhattan Building in New York, the sixth tallest building in the world, uses 60,000 feet (1 km) of copper pipes for its water supply system alone. In Europe, the consumption of steel pipes for drinking water is very large. The average consumption of steel pipes for drinking water in the UK is 1.6 kg per person per year, and in Japan it is 0.2 kg. Because galvanized steel pipes are prone to rust, many countries have banned their use. Hong Kong banned their use as early as January 1996, and Shanghai also implemented it in May 1998. It is imperative for my country to promote the use of copper pipe systems in housing construction.
House decoration: In Europe, it is a tradition to use steel plates to make roofs and eaves. It is even used as wall decoration in Nordic countries. Copper has good atmospheric corrosion resistance, is durable, and can be recycled. It has good processability and can be easily made into complex shapes. It also has beautiful colors; therefore, it is very suitable for house decoration. It has a long history of application on the roofs of ancient buildings such as churches, and it still emits an attractive brilliance; and it is increasingly used in the construction of modern large buildings and even apartments and houses. For example: in London, the "Commonwealth Council" building, which represents modern British architectural art, has a complex roof shape, built with steel plates, weighing about 25 tons; the Crystal Palace Sports Center, which opened in 1966, uses 60 tons of steel to make a wavy roof, etc. According to statistics, the average annual consumption of copper plates used for roofs in Germany is 0.8 kilograms per person, and in the United States it is 0.2 kilograms. In addition, the decoration of house, such as door handles, locks, shutters, railings, lamps, wall decorations, and kitchen utensils, etc., uses steel products that are not only durable and disinfected, but also decorate with an elegant atmosphere, and are deeply loved by people.
Natural properties of copper: Copper is one of the earliest ancient metals discovered by humans. Humans began to use copper more than 3,000 years ago. Copper in nature is divided into natural copper, copper oxide ore and copper sulfide ore. The reserves of natural copper and copper oxide are small. Now more than 80% of the world's copper is refined from copper sulfide ore. The copper content of this ore is extremely low, generally around 2-3%. Metallic copper, element symbol Cu, atomic weight 63.54, specific gravity 8.92, melting point 1083Co. Pure copper is light rose or light red. Copper has many valuable physical and chemical properties, such as high thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity, strong chemical stability, high tensile strength, easy welding, corrosion resistance, plasticity and ductility. Pure copper can be drawn into very fine copper wire and made into very thin copper foil. It can form alloys with metals such as zinc, tin, lead, manganese, cobalt, nickel, aluminum, and iron. The alloys formed are mainly divided into three categories: brass is a copper-zinc alloy, bronze is a copper-tin alloy, and white copper is a copper-cobalt-nickel alloy. The development of copper metallurgical technology has gone through a long process, but to date copper smelting is still dominated by pyrometallurgy, and its output accounts for about 85% of the world's total copper output. Modern hydrometallurgical technology is being gradually promoted, and it is expected to reach 20% of the total output by the end of this century. The introduction of hydrometallurgy has greatly reduced the smelting cost of copper.
