Introduction

The material designations and standards that relate to the manufacture and production of coppers and copper alloys within the UK and Europe are designed, maintained and published by a number of bodies: British Standards Institute (BSI), European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD). BSI is a member of CEN, and European Standards developed by CEN are published by BSI in the UK as BS EN.

BS EN for coppers and copper alloys have been developed to meet the needs of industry and they cover the most commonly available alloys within Europe. There are around 200 coppers and copper alloys within these standards and information on individual materials can be found in this section of the website.

The other standards commonly utilised in the UK are the Aerospace series, published by BSI, (BS B) and the Ministry of Defence Naval standards (Def Stan). The materials specified in these standards have more exacting requirements and have been developed for applications where strength and corrosion requirements can be more critical than those of the BS EN materials.

The tables in this section show the most commonly available BS EN coppers and copper alloys, their compositions, typical properties and uses, and applicable standards. It also provides details of the BS B and Def Stan and the copper-based materials approved for contact with drinking water.

For complete information on any material, the appropriate standard should be consulted.