Everything About Bronze

Filed in archive About Bronze on May 12, 2010

© knitsteel

Growing up, I saw bronze jewelries owned by my great grandmother. It has a distinct, reddish-brown-gold color that sort of tarnishes when you keep it for a long time. Anything made of bronze can be made clean and shiny again even with toothpaste. (Yes you brush the bronze with toothpaste too!)

This process of 'tarnishing' is called oxidation. However, bronze only typically oxidizes superficially or on the surface only. Once a copper oxide (eventually becoming copper carbonate) layer is formed, the underlying metal is protected from further corrosion. However, if copper chlorides are formed, a corrosion-mode called "bronze disease" will eventually completely destroy it.

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting mainly of copper mixed with tin in various proportions. Sometimes copper is mixed with other elements such as phosphorus, manganese, aluminium, or silicon. Bronze is hard and brittle and was particularly significant in antiquity, thereby giving its name to Bronze Age.

This blog will cover everything about bronze jewelries. I hope you keep coming back.