Brass faucets are the most widely used and relatively mature materials on the market.

First of all, a concept should be clarified: full copper ≠ pure copper.

Pure copper refers to copper that has been refined by technology and has a purity of more than 99.5%. However, pure copper is soft and not easy to cut, so it is not suitable for making faucets.

The base material of most brass faucet products on the market is copper-zinc alloy. Because of its good mechanical properties, good thermoplastic, good cutting performance, easy brazing and welding, corrosion resistance and other advantages, it is widely used in faucet products.

The entire faucet product is made of brass material, which can be called “full copper faucet”. In order to attract consumers, some merchants use the term “pure copper faucet”, which is quite unprofessional and even suspected of false propaganda.

According to the copper content in the alloy, it can be divided into H59 copper, H62 copper, H65 copper and other types.

Among them, H59 copper is the main material for copper faucets, that is, HPb59-1 copper. The first letter “H” of the brand represents brass, and the following two digits represent the average brass content. 59 copper means copper content ≥59%, -1 means lead content <1%.

Because it meets the national standard requirements, H59 copper is also called national standard copper. Correspondingly, there is also “non-standard copper”, that is, copper materials that do not meet the national standard. Many low-priced faucets use non-standard copper. Non-standard copper will precipitate a lot of heavy metals and other harmful substances, and long-term use is harmful to human health!

We all know that heavy metals are harmful to the body, so why do we need to add lead to brass when forging faucets?

This is because adding lead will greatly improve the mach-inability of brass castings. Lead is insoluble in copper-zinc alloys, but it can have an excellent lubricating effect. If lead is not added, it will become very difficult to make faucets.

Some people are afraid of lead and turn to stainless steel faucets. In fact, the control of lead content in brass faucets is already quite mature.

When purchasing, you often see different terms such as “pure lead copper, low lead copper, lead-free copper”, which is the promotion of low lead in brass faucets.

“Lead-free copper” does not mean zero lead content, but the lead content is less than 0.3%. “Low lead copper” was first proposed by the United States, and the standard is 0.25% lead content. “Pure lead copper” and “low lead copper” mean the same thing, but the terms are different.