Brochure Copy
Portions of 24-page brochure copy written for Handy & Harman
Industrial Products Group by Richard Stewart
Handy & Harman
Industrial ProductsMeasuring Value Beyond Beauty or Price
The ancients prized jewelry and other decorative items crafted
of gold and silver for the same reasons we value them today —
their enduring beauty and richness. In more recent times,
additional benefits have been derived through technology that
extend the intrinsic value of precious metals. Handy & Harman
Industrial Products Group can help you maximize the advantages
of these developments.As a leading producer of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium
alloys for industrial and scientific use, we supply materials to
customers around the globe for a wide range of applications —
electrical contacts, electroplating, chemical catalysts, sputtering
targets, dental alloys, batteries, and nuclear control rods, to
name a few. Our alloys are available as rod, wire, tubing, strip,
sheet, blanks, circles, anodes, grain, atomized powders, bimetals,
special and machined shapes. This brochure provides an
introduction to the entire range of Handy & Harman Industrial
Products.Partnering for Success
The Handy & Harman Partners Program puts our entire net-
work of sales/service representatives and technical experts on
your team, helping you grow and become more successful.
When you win, we win. It's a simple philosophy about sharing
and commitment that serves us both in meeting the competitive
demands of the international marketplace. As your partner, we
will strive to provide the lowest-total-cost product for your
application — nothing less than you should expect from a
strategic partner. But we also believe a product's value is
measured by more than price alone. As part of the equation,
we promise quality and consistency, timely delivery, excellent
customer service, and the broadest technical support available
in the industry. Our engineers and metallurgists will help you
to develop specialized materials for your unique applications.
Our goal is to exceed your expectations.
Electrical and Electronic Applications
Making Contact When It CountsCorrosion-resistant and superior conductors of electricity,
precious metals are the materials of choice for electrical
contacts and electronic connectors. Handy & Harman is the
recognized authority in the development and supply of
materials for these demanding applications. We produce
contact materials in a variety of forms for countless
applications. Round wire is used for rivets and infiltration
processes. Flat wire is selected for assemblies and cladding.
Strip is used for cladding and stamping.Fabricated Silver
Fine silver (up to 99.99%) — Typically specified for
electrical contacts and as an infiltration agent in powder
metallurgy (silver/refractory metal) contacts, its qualities
include high electrical and thermal conductivity, good
oxidation resistance, and good ductility (allowing it to be
easily formed into intricately designed shapes).Silver-copper Alloys — Alternatives to fine silver when
increased mechanical strength is needed along with high
electrical conductivity, these alloys are less expensive
(because of the copper content) but less resistant to
oxidation.Silver Metal Oxide Materials
Silver Cadmium Oxide Materials — Strong, resistant to
welding and arc erosion, and less costly than silver, these
alloys are widely used for contacts. They can be supplied
with a fine silver backing to facilitate brazing and welding
into assemblies. Our internal oxidation process achieves
an even distribution of fine, uniformly sized cadmium oxide
particles throughout the microstructure. They are consoli-
dated and extruded in our high-ratio extrusion process to
produce wire and strip.Silver Tin Oxide Alloys — Widely used as an environ-
mentally safe substitute for silver cadmium oxide, these
alloys possess good anti-welding and arc-erosion properties.
Wire and strip are available with a fine silver backing for
brazing and welding. We produce them by traditional
powder metallurgy techniques, extruding sintered billets
into strip and wire. Our extrusion process yields a uniform
dispersal of tin oxide particles in silver. Since silver tin
oxide is not as ductile as cadmium oxides, design and
manufacturing modifications are required.Powder Metallurgy Alloys
Silver Nickel Alloys — Less costly alternative to fine
silver, these alloys offer improved wear resistance and
better anti-welding characteristics. Available in wire and
strip, they are ductile, corrosion-resistant and can be
welded during assembly operations. Traditional powder
metallurgy techniques, coupled with our high-ratio
extrusion process, yields a uniform product of consistent
quality.Silver Iron Alloys — Also less expensive than fine silver,
they possess good anti-welding properties but poor
resistance to corrosion. Traditional powder metallurgy
techniques and our high-ratio extrusion process assure
uniform iron distribution.Gold
Fine Gold (up to 99.99%) — Favored for its high
electrical conductivity and superb tarnish resistance in
most environments, gold is typically used as a cladding
over a base metal, since it is very soft and subject to
mechanical wear and welding.Premaloy
Premaloy Materials — Handy & Harman premaloy
materials, alloying gold with silver, platinum and nickel,
provide the desired physical characteristics and reliability
of gold, plus improved wear resistance. Typically, prem-
aloy materials are used to produce electrical contacts in
light duty and dry circuit applications. They are gener-
ally selected for their high reliability and excellent
mechanical properties.Platinum/Palladium Group Metals
Platinum Group Metals — Widely used in the electri-
cal industry because of their distinct characteristic of
nobility or ability to remain unchanged in various
environments. Our alloys are stabile in many aggressive
and adverse physical, mechanical, chemical and electrical
environments.
Precious Metal Sputtering Targets
Coating With Ultra-Thin FilmsThe sputtering process of coating glass, plastic and other
substrates with ultra-thin films of precious metals gives
us windshields that conduct electricity to melt ice, win-
dows that selectively block the sun's radiation for
increased energy efficiency, inexpensive pens and
watches that look and feel expensive, and many other
innovative products. Handy & Harman produces sput-
tering materials, known as targets, of gold, silver and
platinum group metals. In our formulations, grain size,
orientation and residual stress are precisely controlled.
That helps you achieve coatings of uniform depth,
dispersion and coverage.Since sputtering is essentially a mechanical process of
vacuum evaporation, virtually any material can be
coated. The glass industry uses targets of silver and
other metals and oxides on architectural, automotive
and optical glass. Certain wave lengths of electromag-
netic radiation pass through the coating, while others
are blocked. Silver's low transmission of infrared
radiation is essential for "low-E" glass used in insu-
lated windows, which can lower heating and air
conditioning bills with little effect on light transmission.
Electrical and thermal conductivity of sputtered targets
can produce vehicle windshields that defrost quickly.The jewelry industry sputters gold onto pens, eye
glasses, watchbands, rings and other items to achieve
the desired look, without the higher cost associated
with electroplating and other processes. Sputtering is
also an environmentally safe alternative. Products
sputtered with layers of gold and titanium nitride can
offer improved wear resistance, too.The electronics industry, traditionally a heavy user
of precious metals for their excellent conductivity and
corrosion-resistant properties, has adopted the sput-
tering process in the manufacture of computer chips,
integrated circuits, capacitors and other components.
Sputtered coatings can be deposited cleanly and
with high accuracy to meet the competitive cost and
reliability requirements of this industry.Handy & Harman offers precious metal sputtering
targets, both solid and bonded, in a range of alloys,
shapes and dimensions. Precision machining, con-
trolled by computer, enables us to supply targets
of unsurpassed uniformity and purity. Our team
of engineers and metallurgists are available to help
develop alloys and forms for your specialized
requirements. We offer a complete package of
materials and services, providing everything from
initial materials preparation to sputtering target
fabrication and the refining of spent targets....[skipping to end of brochure]
...Handy & Harman was established in 1867 as a
dealer in gold and silver bullion and a supplier of
precious metals to the jewelry industry. Since the
beginning of this century, the company has been a
leading fabricator of precious metals and refiner of
precious metals and precious metals scrap. We have
pioneered many processes. Our expertise in alloying,
fabrication and refining is backed by our outstanding
resources in facilities, equipment, and highly skilled
engineers and metallurgists. Our total precious metals
management capabilities enable us to produce the
highest quality gold, silver, platinum, palladium and
alloy products available in the marketplace.Growth of Handy & Harman
At the turn of the century, Handy & Harman turned
to manufacturing as its chief business activity. In
1915, the company established the first centralized
U.S. facility for fabrication and refining of precious
metals. In the 1930s, with the development of Easy
Flo® and Sil Fos® brazing alloys, Handy & Harman
ushered in the era of mass production brazing in the
U.S. Similarly, the company pioneered techniques for
efficiently refining precious metals from the industry's
scrap heaps, setting industry standards for refining
and business integrity.Following World War II, the company continued to
develop processes for the fabrication of precious
metals products, including selective cladding, alloying
of electrical contact materials, rolling of ultra-thin
strip and sheet, and production of complex precious
metal products that combine cladding, plating and
stamping operations.Today, with modern fabricating and refining plants
across the U.S., in Canada and the Far East, and
with Sales/Service Centers in major industrial areas,
Handy & Harman invites you to tap into our wide-
ranging capabilities and expertise in all aspects of
precious metal production and management.Join our Handy & Harman Partners Program and
grow along with us.
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