Common Uses for Beryllium Copper

Beryllium Copper has its fair share of common names. You may hear it referred to as BeCu, Copper Beryllium, Beryllium Bronze, Alloy 172, and Spring Copper. Anytime you hear those terms, they're in reference to Beryllium Copper.

You can find Beryllium Copper across many different industries and applications. This is primarily due to its strength and electrical and thermal conductivity while also being non-sparking and non-magnetic. Today, I'll cover Beryllium Copper's unique characteristics that make it such a popular choice.

Common Beryllium Copper Products

Perhaps the most common uses for Beryllium copper are in electronic connectors, telecommunications products, computer components, and small springs. Beryllium Copper is exceptionally versatile and known for:

• High electrical and thermal conductivity and high ductility
• The ability to be stamped into complex shapes with tight tolerances
• Good corrosion and oxidation resistance
• Excellent metalworking, forming, and machining qualities

BERYLLIUM COPPER AND DANGEROUS ENVIRONMENTS

In environments like oil rigs and coal mines, a single spark can be enough to endanger lives and assets. In this situation, Beryllium Copper’s non-sparking and non-magnetic qualities can truly save lives. 

Tools like wrenches, screwdrivers, and hammers used on oil rigs and coal mines often have the letters BeCu on them, indicating that they are made of Beryllium Copper and safe to use in those environments.

Beryllium Copper and Professional Instruments

In contrast to being a popular material for non-sparking tools, Copper Beryllium is also used to make professional musical instruments. Both tambourines and triangles are traditionally made of Copper Beryllium. 

These percussion instruments emit consistent tone and resonance when made with Copper Beryllium, making it a popular material in high-end, high-quality percussion instruments.

Beryllium Copper and Various Temperatures

BeCu retains its strength and thermal conductivity at low temperatures. As a result, it's used in cryogenic equipment.

Alternatively, Beryllium Copper is used in valve seats and guides in high-performance, four-stroke engines with coated titanium valves due to its ability to dissipate heat from the valve faster than powdered steel or iron.

CHOOSE MEAD METALS FOR YOUR BERYLLIUM COPPER NEEDS

As you can see, Beryllium Copper's characteristics make it the ideal material for a variety of industries and applications. Mead Metals carries Beryllium Copper in annealed, quarter hard, and half hard tempers from 0.003 to 0.060. Full hard and mill hardened tempers are stocked on a limited basis. 

We offer numerous secondary services to simplify our customers' production processes. Not to mention, we provide precision slitting from .250" to 12.000", edge rolling, cut-to-length, and de-burring services on our Beryllium Copper products.