Permanent Mold Casting of Copper-Base Alloys for Plumbing Applications

The lead content of drinking water has been restricted to less than 15 ppb by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in USA. This has led to extensive research and development work at the Materials Technology Laboratory (MTL) of CANMET, a Canadian Government research laboratory, on the development of low-lead and lead-free copper alloys for plumbing applications. Attentionhas also been focused on the environmentally friendly and energy efficient permanent mold casting process to minimize the disposal of foundry sand contaminated by lead due to the use of leaded alloys in the non-ferrous foundries. A new series of alloys called SeBiLOY contaning Bi and Se been introduced to replace lead in the leaded alloys. This paper addresses some important casting characteristics such as fluidity, hot tear resistance, mechanical properties and microstructure of lead-free alloys such as SeBiLOY III and low-lead alloys such as silicon brass, silicon bronze and yellow brass in gravity permanent mold casting.