G'day Norm ,Tyler and AvB
It's interesting when you read other forums on machining, some people there have never heard of Brass bushes
for machinery etc and say you must use Bronze.
In certain applications brass bushes are the preferred bush of choice.
JCB for instance it's very common to use Brass bushes in the front end ,we know Bronze is harder longer lasting
normally but harder can mean more brittle and using a bronze bush in a JCB front main pivot could easily kill
someone ,driving down the road the brittle bronze bush breaks then if you loose control of the steering 7 tonne could go straight
through an oncoming car.
Hardness is a measure of a material’s response to local surface stresses and how it reacts to scratching, denting, etc. The Brinell hardness scale is one of the numerous hardness scales available and uses its own hardness indenter machine to grade a material’s response to a standardized force. For reference, typical glass scores 1500 on the Brinell hardness scale and lead scores 5; using these as benchmarks, Table 1 below clearly shows that bronze is on average harder than brass. A harder material is usually more brittle, and bronze follows this rule by being much more prone to fracture than brass. If workability is a necessity, brass is by far the better choice than bronze. However, if strength and resistance to wear are of concern, bronze may be the better option.
Brass is used instead of Bronze in some diesel piston pin bushes .
Old cars can have steel ,bronze or brass king pin bushes.
Another common use of Brass bushes is in old clocks and watches ,the idea here is if you used bronze the spindles
will wear out ,brass is used so only the brass needs replacing making repairs cheaper and easier.
More uses of brass bushes here if interested
https://www.ehow.com/list_6811884_uses-brass-bushings_.htmlCheers
Max.
