brass or copper

[roughboy]

which of these holds more pressure brass or copper?

[SpudFarm]

brass is stronger, harder and can hold more pressure but copper has better failure charateristics.

[john bunsenburner]

Though at this point i woudl normally do some sacastic remake about cheese(or shoudl i leave that up to rag?) I would like to add the spudfarm's post instead:

At a normal wall thickness of pipe both copper and brass hold alot of pressure, I will risk a guess and say both will easyly hold 500psi at normal wall thicknesses, really you shoudl tell us what pressure you are planning to use and what dimensions of pipe you need then we can help better.

[Ragnarok]

Yes. Cheese.

To explain, the point that was made by the "Making a chamber out of cheese if the walls are thick enough" joke was that the material alone is only half the tale. Wall thickness and pipe internal diameter are just as important.

Brass will be stronger for the same chamber wall/internal diameter ratio (How much stronger depends on the exact alloying percentages) - but brass tubing may well have a lower wall/ID ratio, making it less strong overall.

In other words, we need more information to answer your question.

It should be noted, cheese is not actually recommended for making chambers.

[roughboy]

Get a brass and a copper both with the same size (3' long x 1/2'' width) which one of the two will hold more pressure before it bursts/explodes?

[FishBoy]

Get a brass and a copper both with the same size (3' long x 1/2'' width) which one of the two will hold more pressure before it bursts/explodes?

It still depends, they most likely have different wall thicknesses, try to look that up.

[starman]

Both can take you easily to 1000 psi but copper pipe is going to be much more plentiful and cheaper to obtain in any standard pressure rated size.

What application did you have in mind?

[roughboy]

I'm planning on building a copper gun but since i don't really know how to solder, im switching to brass because compression fitting is easier for me than soldering.

[starman]

Soldering really is a no brainer, just practice on a handful of joints first and you'll be fine. You're going to want soldered joints for high pressure applications.

Where are you planning to get your brass pipe?

[roughboy]

gonna get brass pipes from Ace hardware.

[Gippeto]

I'm just going to throw my .02 in here.

Aren't brass pipes awfully expensive? Around here it's $8 for a six inch nipple (1/2"npt).

Sweating copper is a useful skill, and will save you money for the rest of your life. The tools (torch, flux brush, and pipe cleaner) will not break the bank either.

Edit: You'll need a pipe cutter as well.

As Starman points out, it's not hard, it just requires a little bit of practice.

And if you ever decide to go "combustion", you already have the propane.

Either that, or you could try something like "Just for copper", which is some sort of glue for copper pipe. It claims to be rated for 500psi, and might be worth a try.