Introduction to the Types, Characteristics, and Applications of Tin Bronze Wire Mesh Materials

Tin bronze wire mesh is also known as tin bronze woven mesh, tin bronze filter mesh, tin bronze screen, tin bronze square hole mesh, tin bronze metal wire mesh, tin bronze mesh, etc.
Common grades of tin bronze wire mesh are QSn4-3, QSn4.4-2.5, QSn7-O.2, ZQSn10, ZQSn5-2-5, ZQSN6-6-3, etc.
Tin bronze is an important copper alloy used in industry. In order to improve its casting, mechanical and wear resistance, as well as to save tin, alloy elements such as phosphorus, zinc, and lead are added to tin bronze. Therefore, tin bronze can be divided into three categories: tin-phosphor bronze, tin-zinc bronze, and tin-zinc-lead.
Tin-phosphor bronze
phosphorus is a good deoxidizer for copper alloys, which can increase the fluidity of the alloy, improve the process and mechanical properties of tin bronze, but increase the degree of reverse segregation.
The limiting solubility of phosphorus in tin bronze is 0.15%. When there is too much, a+δ+Cu3P ternary eutectic will be formed, with a melting point of 628℃. It is easy to produce hot brittleness during hot rolling and can only be cold processed. Therefore, the phosphorus content in deformed tin bronze should not be greater than 0.5%, and during hot processing, phosphorus should be less than 0.25%.
Phosphorus-containing tin bronze is a well-known elastic material. During processing, it is necessary to control the grain size before cold processing and low-temperature annealing after processing. The strength, elastic modulus and fatigue strength of fine-grained processed materials are higher than those of coarse-grained processed materials, but the plasticity is lower. Cold-processed materials are annealed at 200-260℃ for 1-2h to produce annealing hardening effect, which can further improve the strength, plasticity, elastic limit and elastic modulus of the products, and increase the stability of elasticity. There are
now 4 grades of phosphorus-containing tin bronze included in the Chinese national standard.
Among them, QSn6.5-0.1 alloy is mainly used to make elastic elements, especially spring contact pieces with good electrical conductivity, wear-resistant parts and anti-magnetic components in instruments and meters, etc.
Qsn6.5-0.4 alloy is mainly used to make metal mesh in industries such as papermaking, chemical industry and food, and is also used to make wear-resistant and spring parts;
QSn7-0.2 alloy is used for parts that bear friction under medium loads and sliding speeds, such as bearings, bushings, turbines, etc., and can also be used to make elastic elements and other mechanical and electrical parts;
QSn4-0.3 alloy is used to produce various pipes in pressure gauges as sensitive elements and is known as pressure gauge bronze.
Tin-zinc bronze
zinc dissolves in large quantities in copper-tin alloys, and the amount of zinc added to deformed tin bronze is generally not more than 4%. Zinc can improve the fluidity of the alloy, narrow the crystallization temperature range, and reduce reverse segregation.
The tin-zinc bronze grade listed in the current Chinese national standard is QSn4-3, which has good elasticity, wear resistance and anti-magnetism, can be pressure processed in cold and hot states, is easy to weld and braze, has good machinability, and has good corrosion resistance in the atmosphere and fresh water and seawater. It is used for various elastic elements, pipe fittings, chemical equipment, wear-resistant parts and anti-magnetic parts.
Tin-zinc-lead bronze
lead is actually not soluble in copper-tin alloys. It is distributed between dendrites as a single phase and black inclusions. Lead distribution in the ingot is not easy to be uniform, and a small amount of nickel is usually added to improve its distribution and refine the structure. Lead reduces the friction coefficient of tin bronze, improves wear resistance and machinability, but slightly reduces mechanical properties.
3% to 5% zinc is often added to copper-tin-lead alloys to further improve mechanical properties.
Adding 0.02% to 0.1% zirconium or 0.02% to 0.1% boron, especially adding 0.02% to 0.2% rare earth elements can refine lead particles and make them evenly distributed to improve the organization, casting and mechanical properties of lead-tin bronze. The
tin-zinc-lead bronze listed in the current Chinese national standard has two grades, QSn4-4-2.5 and QSn4-4-4. It has high wear resistance and is easy to cut. It is mainly used in the form of plates and strips for automobiles, tractors, aviation and machinery industries to manufacture bushings and bearing liners. It is known as automotive bronze. The main chemical composition and mechanical properties of the Chinese grade deformed tin bronze commonly used in
tin bronze wire mesh are shown in the table below.

Tin bronze wire mesh application
Copper is a non-ferrous metal that is closely related to human beings. It is widely used in electrical, light industry, machinery manufacturing, construction industry, national defense industry and other fields. It is second only to aluminum in the consumption of non-ferrous metal materials in China.
Tin bronze is a non-ferrous metal alloy with the smallest casting shrinkage rate. It is used to produce castings with complex shapes, clear contours and low air tightness requirements. Tin bronze is very corrosion-resistant in the atmosphere, seawater, fresh water and steam, and is widely used in steam boilers and ship parts. Phosphorus-containing tin bronze has good mechanical properties and can be used as wear-resistant parts and elastic parts of high-precision machine tools. Lead-containing tin bronze is often used as wear-resistant parts and sliding bearings. Zinc-containing tin bronze can be used as high-air tightness castings.
Tin bronze is the most widely used and largest in the electrical and electronic industries, accounting for more than half of the total consumption. It is used in various cables and wires, motors and transformers, switches and printed circuit boards in machinery and transportation vehicle manufacturing, and is used to manufacture industrial valves and accessories, instruments, sliding bearings, molds, heat exchangers and pumps. It is widely used in the chemical industry to manufacture vacuum devices, distillation pots, brewing pots, etc.