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Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc (a copper alloy), a solid solution. Typically it is more than 50 % copper. Some types of brass are called bronzes, despite their high zinc content.

Brass is a versatile manufacturing material because of its hardness and workability.

• Admiralty brass contains 30% zinc and 1% tin which inhibits dezincification.
• Alpha brasses, with less than 35% zinc, are malleable, can be worked cold, and are used in pressing, forging, or similar. They contain only one phase, with face-centered cubic crystal structure.
• Alpha-beta brass, also called duplex brass, is 35-45 % zinc and is suited for hot working, for example 'Muntz metal'. It contains both α and β' phase; the β'-phase is body-centered cubic and is harder and stronger than α. Alpha-beta brasses are usually worked hot.
• Aluminium brass contains aluminium, which improves its corrosion resistance.
• Arsenical brass contains an addition of arsenic and frequently aluminium and is used for boiler fireboxes.
• Beta brasses, with 45-50 % zinc content, can only be worked hot, is harder, stronger, and suitable for casting.
• Cartridge brass is a 30% zinc brass with good cold working properties.
• Common brass, or rivet brass, is a 37% zinc brass, cheap and standard for cold working.
• High brass, contains 65% copper and 35% zinc, has a high tensile strength and is used for springs, screws, rivets.
• Leaded brass is an alpha-beta brass with addition of lead. It has excellent machinability.
• Low brass is a copper-zinc alloy containing 20% zinc with a light golden color, excellent ductility and is used for flexible metal hoses and metal bellows.
• Naval brass, similar to admiralty brass, is a 40% zinc brass and 1% tin.
• Red brass is an American term for CuZnSn alloy known as gunmetal.
• White brass contains more than 50 % zinc and is too brittle for general use.
• Yellow brass is an American term for 33% zinc brass.

Some types of brass have other metals added to modify their properties.

In some enviroments, brasses with higher content of zinc are prone to selective leaching corrosion.

Brass has a yellow colour, somewhat similar to gold. Because of this, and its relative resistance to tarnishing, it is used as a decoration.

The malleablity and acoustic properties of brass have made it the metal of choice for musical instruments such as the tuba. Instruments where the sound is produced by the vibration of the musician's lips are collectively known as brass instruments.

Brass has been known to man since prehistoric times, long before zinc itself was discovered. It was produced by melting copper together with calamine, a zinc ore. During this process, the zinc is extracted from the calamine and instantly mixes with the copper. Pure zinc, on the other hand, is too reactive to be produced by ancient metalworking techniques.

See also

• Calamine brass — brass alloy and manufacturing process from discovery until the late 18th century
• Prince's metal — an alpha brass
• Muntz metal — an alpha-beta brass
• Bronze — an alloy of copper with tin and optionally zinc, silicon, nickel and other metals
• Cupronickel — an alloy of copper with nickel
• Brass instrument — a musical instrument usually made of brass
• Brass rubbing — reproduction of brasses, commemorative plates laid down in British and European churches from the 13th Century onwards
• In the military, the brass are senior officers, who wear metal adornments sometimes made of brass.
• Brass refers to empty shell casings ejected from a firearm.
• In some English dialects brass means money.
• There is an expression, "where there's muck there's brass".
• As brass is sometimes used as an inexpensive substitute for gold, the term brassy has come to mean showy and tasteless.
• A "Brass" is a round token used by tradesmen in exchange for borrowing a tool from one another, to insure its return."

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