When you’re buying parts, you’re actually paying for machine time. The faster the cut, the lower the cost. With faster cutting speeds and the highest chip recycling value, brass is a cost-effective and sustainable material for precision parts. Brass easily meets the yield strength requirements for small component parts, and its high-speed machining capabilities mean greater throughput and lower per-part cost.

Brass outperforms other metals when it comes to speed and manufacturing economics. In controlled turning-operation comparisons of brass rod alloys vs. steels, 304L stainless steel maxed out at only 20 percent of the top speed for brass, and 12L14 steel was limited to 30 percent. Consistently, brass alloys cut at more than three times the speed of other metals with eight times the tool life.

Moreover, the machine time cost per cubic inch of material removed was 79 percent less for brass vs. steel, and 86 percent less for brass vs. stainless steel in a comparison at optimized turning speeds. In a drilling comparison, brass cost 59 percent less than steel and 87 percent less than stainless steel per 1,000 holes drilled – not to mention the fact that brass scrap can be sold back to raw material suppliers for up to 90 percent of the original cost. For precision parts, the high value of brass scrap improves control over operation costing when the amount of scrap produced is considered in production and sales revenues.