What Material is H68?

In material selection that requires a combination of excellent cold-forming properties, moderate strength, good corrosion resistance, and a classic golden-yellow color, brass H68 (according to the Chinese National Standard GB/T 5231-2012, corresponding to German/European standards CuZn33 / DIN 17660, U.S. Standard C26000, Japanese Standard C2600) stands out as an ideal choice for cartridge case manufacturing, hardware zippers, radiators, and various stamped parts due to its exceptional cold-working plasticity and balanced overall performance.

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H68 is a copper-zinc binary alloy (ordinary brass). Its Chinese national standard grade "H" represents brass, and "68" indicates an average copper content of about 68% (i.e., an average zinc content of about 32%). This composition ratio gives it performance characteristics between H65 (CuZn35) and H70 (CuZn30), featuring excellent cold-working plasticity, good strength, superior corrosion resistance, and a typical golden-yellow color. It is particularly suitable for applications requiring deep cold deformation and specific appearance requirements.

The core value of H68 lies in its outstanding cold-working performance. Its mechanical properties can be significantly adjusted through cold-working hardening and annealing.

Chemical Composition (main elements, wt%, GB/T 5231-2012 H68):

Copper (Cu): 67.0–70.0%

Zinc (Zn): Balance (~30–33%)

Iron (Fe): ≤ 0.10%

Lead (Pb): ≤ 0.03%

Other Impurities: ≤ 0.3% (total)

Typical Mechanical Properties in Different States (example for sheet/strip):

The production of high-quality H68 focuses on purity control, precision rolling, and heat treatment:

Precision Smelting: Uses high-purity electrolytic copper and zinc ingots melted in a protective atmosphere (e.g., induction furnace) to strictly control impurity content, ensuring material purity and uniform color.

Casting: Commonly uses semi-continuous casting to produce slabs (for rolling) or horizontal/upward continuous casting to produce wire/rod billets.

Hot Working: Slabs are heated and hot-rolled to form medium-thick plates or hot-rolled coils.

Cold Working (Core Stage): Hot-rolled coils undergo multiple cold-rolling passes to achieve thinning, precisely controlling the reduction rate, tension, and roller surface to produce precision cold-rolled thin sheets, strips (coil material), and bars. Different states like M (soft), Y2 (half-hard), and Y (hard) are obtained by controlling cold-rolling deformation, significantly increasing strength, hardness, dimensional accuracy, and obtaining a smooth surface.

Heat Treatment: Annealing is a core process that eliminates cold-work hardening and restores extreme plasticity, producing soft-state (M-state) material-essential for deep drawing, deep stretching, complex bending, spinning, and other demanding cold-forming processes. Bright annealing (BA) is performed in a protective atmosphere to obtain oxidation-free, mirror-bright surfaces for decorative and high-demand applications.

Finishing: Includes cleaning, precision straightening, shearing, polishing, surface treatments (e.g., passivation), etc., ensuring precise dimensions, good flatness, high surface finish, and no residual stress.

Excellent Cold-Working Plasticity and Formability (Core Advantage): Soft state (M-state) has extremely high ductility, making it ideal for deep drawing, deep pressing, complex bending, flanging, curling, spinning, and other demanding cold-forming processes.

Good Strength: Significant strength and hardness above the soft state can be obtained through cold-working hardening (Y2, Y states), meeting the requirements for structural parts and elastic components.

Classic Golden-Yellow Color and Good Polishability: After polishing or bright annealing, it exhibits a warm, bright golden-yellow color with excellent decorative effects.

Excellent Corrosion Resistance: Good resistance to atmosphere, fresh water, steam, cold non-oxidizing acidic liquids (e.g., acetic acid); relatively good resistance to stress corrosion cracking; corrosion resistance is superior to low-copper brass (e.g., H62).

Good Electrical and Thermal Conductivity: Electrical conductivity (soft state about 28% IACS) and thermal conductivity perform well among copper alloys.

Good Brazing, Soldering, and Soft-Soldering Properties: Easy to join.

Good Machinability (Relatively): Although not as good as leaded brass, it is superior to pure copper and certain cupronickels.

Non-Magnetic: Suitable for electronics, instrumentation, and other applications requiring avoidance of magnetic interference.

Cartridge Cases and Military Industry: Classic application! Bullet shells, artillery cartridge cases (utilizing its excellent deep-drawing properties, strength, and toughness).

Zipper Manufacturing: Core application! Chain teeth (copper teeth) and sliders for high-end metal zippers (utilizing its excellent cold heading, stamping formability, strength, and appearance).

Radiators and Heat Exchangers: Heat sink fins, automobile radiator water chambers, some heat exchanger components (utilizing thermal conductivity, brazability, and corrosion resistance).

Hardware Fittings and Decoration: Complex stamped parts, trophies/medals, signs, architectural decorative parts, lamp components, furniture fittings, buttons.

Bellows and Hoses: Flexible metal bellows (utilizing its flexibility and fatigue resistance).

Electronics and Electrical Appliances: Conductive spring plates, elastic terminals, sockets, switch parts, connector housings.

Mechanical Parts: Gaskets, rivets, pins, bushings requiring good formability.

Musical Instruments: Components for some brass instruments (e.g., mouthpieces, tubing connectors).

Chemical Industry: Corrosion-resistant containers, pipe fittings.

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Our factory is equipped with an advanced full-process copper processing production line, specializing in the manufacturing of high-precision copper plates, copper tubes, copper rods, copper wires, and copper strips. The core of our production includes continuous casting and rolling units, precision extrusion lines, high-speed cold rolling equipment, multi-roll precision rolling mills, tube drawing systems, and intelligent stretching production lines. We are also outfitted with comprehensive inspection equipment such as spectrometers and online eddy current flaw detectors, ensuring full-process control from smelting and casting, hot processing, to cold finishing. Our products achieve an accuracy of up to ±0.01mm, with an annual production capacity exceeding 50,000 tons. They are widely used in power, electronics, transportation, and high-end manufacturing sectors. Certified with international standards such as ISO9001 and IATF16949, we are capable of providing global customers with one-stop copper material solutions.

We implement a graded and customized packaging system: copper plates are double-wrapped with moisture-proof paper and vapor corrosion inhibitor film before being placed in reinforced wooden crates, which are filled with cushioning materials and equipped with impact-resistant corner protectors; copper tubes and rods are sealed with plastic end caps, wrapped with PE protective film, and then layered into steel-frame logistics containers, with EPE pearl cotton separating each layer; copper wires are automatically wound onto spools, vacuum-sealed, covered with waterproof film, and secured on customized iron-wood pallets; copper strips are wrapped with non-woven fabric, coiled onto high-strength steel cores, and placed into waterproof composite material coils with desiccants inside. All packaging passes ISTA-3A transport testing, and the outer boxes are labeled with international hazardous material identifiers, moisture warnings, and scannable logistics codes, ensuring the cargo withstands moisture, impact, and chemical erosion during global transportation.

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