Hot forged brass rods for plumbing fittings
Hot-forged brass rod for plumbing fittings is specifically designed for hot-forging plumbing fittings (such as elbows, tees, and valves). Featuring excellent thermoplasticity, fluidity, and corrosion resistance, it is widely used in building water supply and drainage, heating systems, and bathroom fixtures. Made primarily from common brass grades such as H59, H62, and H65, it contains 57-67% copper and contains little or no lead (environmentally friendly products have a lead content of ≤0.2%). This high copper content ensures corrosion resistance and hot forging performance. At forging temperatures of 700-850°C, it can achieve an elongation of over 30%, enabling the formation of complex pipe structures in a single step. Compared to ordinary brass rod, hot-forged brass rod for plumbing fittings has stricter microstructure requirements, prohibiting defects such as porosity and pores to prevent cracking during forging. Furthermore, the rod’s diameter uniformity (deviation ≤0.5mm) ensures uniform metal flow during forging.
The production process for brass rods used in hot-forged plumbing fittings focuses on controlling material purity and thermoplasticity. This process primarily involves smelting, ingot casting, rolling/extrusion, and annealing. First, high-quality electrolytic copper and zinc ingots (purity ≥99.9%) are smelted in a medium-frequency induction furnace at a controlled temperature of 1150-1200°C. Appropriate deoxidizers (such as manganese and silicon) are added to remove gases and impurities, ensuring the copper’s purity (oxygen content ≤0.003%). Semi-continuous casting is used for the ingots, with a cooling rate of 50-100°C/min to achieve a fine, uniform grain structure and avoid compositional segregation. The ingots are then hot-rolled or extruded into bars with diameters of 20-100mm at a rolling temperature of 700-800°C, with a reduction of 20-30% per pass to ensure material density. The finished rods need to undergo soft annealing (temperature 500-600℃) to reduce the hardness to HB50-70 and improve the hot forging performance. Finally, they need to pass low-magnification microstructure inspection (no visible defects under a 100× magnifying glass) and mechanical property tests to ensure product quality.
In building water supply and drainage systems, hot-forged brass rods for plumbing fittings are a core material for key connectors. Elbows and tees in residential water supply systems are hot-forged from H62 brass rods. Their excellent resistance to tap water corrosion (annual corrosion rate ≤ 0.01mm) ensures a piping system service life of over 20 years. One real estate project saw a 60% reduction in pipe maintenance after adopting this material. High-rise building riser connections, subject to high water pressure (≥1.6MPa), are made of H65 brass rods. With a tensile strength of ≥300MPa, they maintain a tight seal under high pressure, eliminating the risk of leakage. In outdoor pipe networks, buried pipe fittings utilize corrosion-resistant brass rods (fortified with arsenic and tin) to resist electrochemical corrosion in the soil. Test data from a municipal project showed that fittings made with this material exhibited a corrosion depth of ≤0.05mm over a five-year period.
The heating and bathroom equipment sectors place special demands on the performance of brass rods used in hot-forged plumbing fittings. Central heating system valve cores are hot-forged from H59 brass rods, which must withstand long-term exposure to hot water at 80-95°C. The material’s stability ensures smooth valve opening and closing without sticking. A heating company, using this material, has extended its valve maintenance cycle to over three years. Wall-mounted boiler interface fittings are made from small-diameter brass rods (20-30mm) precision hot-forged to create a thin-walled structure (2-3mm thick), reducing weight while ensuring strength. One wall-mounted boiler manufacturer’s products have reduced weight by 15% and increased energy efficiency by 5%. Bathroom faucet valve core housings utilize environmentally friendly brass rods (lead content ≤ 0.1%) that meet drinking water safety standards. By adopting this material, a bathroom brand has successfully entered the EU market.
With increasing demands for green buildings and environmental protection, the performance and variety of brass rods for hot-forged plumbing fittings are constantly innovating. Manufacturers have developed lead-free, environmentally friendly brass rods (such as Cu-Zn-Si alloys). Their hot forging performance and corrosion resistance are comparable to those of traditional brass, meeting lead-free regulations in Europe and the United States. One company’s lead-free brass rods have received NSF certification. Heat-resistant brass rods (with added nickel and manganese) have been developed for high-temperature heating systems. They maintain excellent mechanical properties at 120°C, expanding their application in solar water heaters and floor heating systems. The integrated continuous casting and rolling process improves the bar’s dimensional accuracy (diameter tolerance ±0.3mm) and microstructure uniformity, increasing material utilization to over 90%. In the future, with the advancement of urbanization and the renovation of aging pipe networks, hot-forged brass rods for plumbing fittings will develop towards higher corrosion resistance and greater environmental friendliness, providing a key material guarantee for the safety and durability of plumbing systems.
