Processing and Applications: Machinability of limited-Pb brass alloys for high precision manufacturing

The recently imposed environmental/health and safety regulations placed limitations of hazardous elements, such as lead (Pb), on critical for human health components, used in contact with food and drinking water. Leaded brasses constitute a crucial importance alloy group used in numerous building, construction, hydraulic and engineering applications in several manufacturing processes and relevant products. However, the aforementioned material group tends to be replaced with low and/or lead-free copper alloys, placing focus on the relevant industrial fabrication technologies, concerning the optimization of machining parameters and decision among the candidate special substitute alloys. This paper aims to provide a brief overview of the material selection procedures and the major failure mechanisms evolved for leaded and low-lead/lead-free copper alloys, pertaining to certain experimentally designed machining processes.