Bronze

Alloys · Common · Ancient

Copper with about a tenth of tin, harder than either and, more to the point, castable: a bronze sword is poured into a mould rather than beaten out of a bar. It does not rust through the way iron does, it grows a green skin and stops there, which is why bronze comes out of the ground whole and iron comes out as a stain.

Identity

Source
Historical alloy: copper and tin
Composition
Copper ~88%, Tin ~12%
Over time
Tin bronze, typically about 88% copper and 12% tin. The earliest bronzes were arsenical, copper with arsenic, from about 3800 BC; tin became the usual addition late in the 3rd millennium BC.
Also known as
Tin bronze, Bell metal (high-tin variety)
Ores, before industry and since
Azurite (Copper), Chalcocite (Copper), Chalcopyrite (Copper), Copper (Copper), Malachite (Copper), Tetrahedrite (Copper), Cassiterite (Tin)
Ores of the industrial age
Bornite (Copper), Chrysocolla (Copper), Covellite (Copper), Cuprite (Copper), Enargite (Copper), Stannite (Tin)

Physical Properties

Appearance
Warm reddish-brown to golden, develops a distinctive green patina over centuries
Luster
Metallic
Density
8.7 g/cm³
Melting point
950 °C
Boiling point
2300 °C
Lighter
Veinstone Metal
Denser
Orium
Magnetism
Non-magnetic
Electrical conductivity
High

Mechanical Properties

Mohs hardness
3.5
Tensile strength
500 MPa
Softer
Shakudo
Harder
Hepatizon
Workability
Easy
Brittleness
Moderate
Malleability
High
Ductility
Moderate

Chemical Properties

Corrosion resistance
High
Reactivity
Low

Lore & Narrative

The Bronze Age collapsed suddenly around 1200 BC in what historians call the Late Bronze Age Collapse, a mysterious cascade of civilizational failures across the Mediterranean. Within decades, the great palace cultures of Mycenae, the Hittites, and Egypt were gone.

Notable uses
Weapons, armor, sculpture, bells, coins, bearings
Forge uses
Weapons, Armor, Sculpture, Bells
Worldbuilding traits
Ancient, Green-patina, Foundational, Artistic

Sources

Browse the Metal Encyclopedia — MGS Toolbox