Liberty Intercept Blog

Copper and the Alchemy of Bronze

Posted by Joe Spitz on Mar 15, 2013 5:58:00 PM

Copper Gold Art Middle Bronze AgeA few years ago, Liberty Packaging president Elaine was interviewed by the Copper Development Association, an organization dedicated to the copper metal and its uses. The Association took a particular interest in Corrosion Intercept. Corrosion Intercept, like all the Intercept Technology products, has a copper backbone bonded into the plastic packaging that acts as an atmospheric barrier, protecting the product inside from corrosion, static charges, and mildew. In that article, there is a link to a similar story regarding the importance of bronze, copper, and tin to man’s progress that I found fascinating.  Here are some excerpts.  I hope you enjoy.

Bronze Era (3300-1100 BC) The Alchemy That Forged Our Civilization

Ten parts copper, one part tin. It sounds like a simple equation, but the discovery of this formula—the essential proportions of bronze metal—set in motion world-changing events, forever altering life on our planet by ushering in the modern era of metalworking, mechanical invention and more.

Considering the near-prehistoric state of civilization in that era, it’s clear that bronze represented the material that not only was a critical foundation of human progress, but also the magnetic force that drew together people and cultures from as far apart as Asia Minor and Eastern Europe. Few discoveries can claim historical importance of such magnitude. The Bronze Age could only have existed through the combining of two raw materials found in geographic locations far apart—tin from Afghanistan and copper from Turkey.

While copper, the first metal used by mankind, was used extensively for more than a thousand years before bronze came about, bronze was prized for its superior durability and hardness, as well as its beauty. Early adopters put bronze to work as tools, weapons, ornamentation and sculpture.

Today, bronze alloys are indispensable in applications ranging from deep-sea drilling to aerospace exploration. The massive screws, or propellers, on large ocean-going ships typically are bronze, as are the bearings that separate high-speed moving parts in transportation vehicles, pumps and industrial machinery. And bronze brazing material helps to make stronger welds. Architectural facades and statues resist corrosion and maintain their natural beauty over centuries of exposure to the elements, while bronze tools, which don’t spark when they strike hard or metal objects, are specially designed for potentially explosive environments such as mines and space capsules.

Why Intercept Technology Packaging?  

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Intercept Technology Packaging products fit within a sustainability strategy because they are reusable, recyclable, do not contain or use volatile components (No VOCs, Not a VCI) and leave a smaller carbon footprint than most traditional protective packaging products.  

Topics: Copper, American manufacturing, mining equipment, manufacturing

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