Advantage And Disadvantage Of Copper

The chemical element copper, with Atomic Number 29, has been extensively used for thousands of years because of several primary properties that have dictated its use throughout history. Among them we can count durability, strength and, as a semi-noble metal, good resistance to corrosion. With a hardness of 3 on the Mohs scale, pure copper is relatively soft and malleable, which makes it an easy metal to work with. Analyses of artefacts from lithic civilizations have shown that native copper had not only been hammered, but annealed as well (Tylecote, 1976).
Together with lead and tin, copper was one of the first metals to be smelted. With 1084 degrees Celsius it has a relatively low melting point; for annealing 800 degrees are needed. Iron, by comparison, has a melting point of 1538 degrees Celsius. Its low melting point makes copper easy to smelt, cast, and remelt without special furnaces or a heavy investment of fuel. Another advantage of copper is that it can be recycled without any loss of quality.
As pure copper is too soft for structural elements or most practical appliances, it needs to be hardened and strengthened. It is therefore combined with
It does not react with water, but it does react in moist air (atmospheric oxidation) by forming a bright bluish-green copper oxide encrustation called verdigris, consisting of basic copper carbonate. This coating protects the underlying copper from more extensive corrosion. Some of the Mönchgut 92 ingots (nos. 1, 12, 13, 17, 19, 21, 28, 35, 37, 48, 54, 55 and 56) show visible pitting due to corrosion. Reißscheiben ingots being a raw, semi-finished product, this corrosion is caused by the presence of trace elements (contamination) within the copper, which results in a heterogeneous structure. Due to this heterogeneity, the areas with foreign inclusions became the reason for the initiation of the corrosion process. (Garbacz-Klempka et al.,