Outdoor lights are made from variety of material, the most common ones are Aluminum, Stainless steel, brass and copper. Different building environment requires different material used, because of the ability to prevent corrosion.
Stainless steel, differs in series of level, widely used rate are 316, 304 and 201. Stainless steel 316 with corrosion resistance, heat resistance and good welding performance, as for those advantages, it can prevent the erosion of ocean and corrosive industrial atmosphere, preferred fitting in coastal regions, such as Australia, New Zealand, UK, Dubai ect. The anti-corrosive properties of 304 class are just a little bit weak than 316, but enough to apply for Non-coastal area, while the 201 model is not such widely used for outdoor landscape.
High brass, views in yellow color, be made from zinc and cuprum. It holds up well in all environments, specially in coastal regions. Compare with 316 stainless steel, brass material is easy to oxidize, may develop a patina (in darken color), but doesn’t corrode and lasts for many years. It is famous for it’s natural color developed, for a long time, lamp natural weathering, discoloration, until the whole outdoor fixture texture, color sense of complete harmony for people to watch!
High Copper, views in red color, with high percentage cuprum. It holds up well in all climates, but it’s not as durable as brass for outdoor lighting. Copper is easy to oxidize as well as brass. Many lighting manufacturers create brass fixtures and coat them with copper finished. It is commonly applied for Tubular wall lights, such as our spot light series, named LD51016, LD51116, LD51216. While, some wall fixtures in copper style restoring ancient ways are favoring by European guys, such as LD55291, LD55301 and LD55302.
Aluminum material are the most conventional for outdoor lighting, including die-casting Aluminum, brushed aluminum and others forms. Because of the cheaper cost, it is the affordable alternative to brass, copper and Stainless steel lighting fixtures for outdoor use. The main problem of Aluminum is corrosion easily, so manufacturers will use a special weather-resistant finish to avoid coastal regions. Pre-treatment is necessary and must be done for outdoor lighting in Aluminum. The surface treatment for aluminum body are electrophoresis and powder coating. Electrophoresis is more popular going for pipe models, in Titanium and silver coloured, while the powder coating can be in wide color range following with Pantone color card.
All the aboved statement are for your reference from Ningbo LED Lighting.
