Brass make brass was not recognised as a metal. The King James Bible makes many references to "brass". The Shakespearean English form of the word 'brass' can mean any bronze alloy, or copper, rather than the strict modern definition of brass. The earliest brasses may have been natural alloys made by smelting zinc-rich copper ores. By the Roman period brass was being deliberately produced from metallic copper and zinc minerals using the cementation process, and variations on this method continued until the mid-19th century. It was eventually replaced by speltering, the direct alloying of copper and zinc metal which was introduced
Copper alloys in aquaculture UR30 and other mesh forms and a range of copper alloys. To date, in over 10 years of aquaculture experience, chain link mesh fabricated by these brass alloys have not suffered from dezincification, stress corrosion cracking, or erosion corrosion. Copper–nickel alloys were developed specifically for seawater applications over five decades ago. Today, these alloys are being investigated for their potential use in aquaculture. Copper–nickel alloys for marine applications are usually 90% copper, 10% nickel, and small amounts of manganese and iron to enhance corrosion resistance. The seawater corrosion resistance of copper–nickel alloys results in a thin, adherent, protective surface film