Grittner has asserted that an
explosive compound may be produced when acetylene is brought into contact
with such alloys of copper as ordinary brass containing 64.66 per cent.
of copper, or red brass containing 74.46 per cent. of copper, 20.67 per
cent. of zinc, and 4.64 per cent. of tin; whereas none is obtained when
the metal is either "alpaca" containing 64.44 per cent. of copper, 18.79
per cent. of nickel, and 16.33 per cent. of zinc, or britannia metal
composed of 91.7 per cent. of copper and 8.3 per cent. of tin. Caro has
found that when pure dry acetylene is led for nine months over sheets or
filings of copper, brass containing 63.2 per cent. of copper, red brass
containing 73.8 per cent., so-called "alpaca-metal" containing 65.3 per
cent., and britannia metal containing 90.2 per cent. of copper, no action
whatever takes place at ordinary temperatures; if the gas is moist very
small quantities of copper acetylide are produced in six months, whatever
metal is tested, but the yield does not increase appreciably afterwards.
At high temperatures condensation occurs between acetylene and copper or
its alloys, but explosive bodies are not formed.
Grittner's statement that crude acetylene, with or without ammonia, acts
upon alloys of copper as well as upon copper itself, has thus been
corroborated by Caro; but experience renders it tolerably certain that
brass (and presumably gun-metal) is not appreciably attacked in practical
conditions.
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