Bronze An alloy of copper and zinc with high percentage of copper. Averagely strong alloy, easy to shape. Bronze performs well in both sweet and salty water. Now, when it comes to fluid dynamics, if the fountain component is cast-made, the water effect is ruined due to its rough and uneven finishing, while at the same time vast amounts of water are wasted due to inside friction. Also, bronze-made parts tend to tarnish depending on water conditions. Although bronze does not stain, it usually oxidizes externally.
It has changed everything. Since the discovery of Stainless Steel, nearly every aspect of everyday life has changed. From household equipment to medicine, to industrial applications, to skyscrapers, to even smartphones (Apple used Stainless Steel for the first time in iPhone 4). We started experimenting with Stainless Steel some 30 years ago and now we are proud to be the first company to introduce Stainless Steel in the fountains industry. The advantages are endless and there is literally no drawback in this alloy. The remarkable quality of every Fontana product is primarily based on the quality of Stainless Steel itself. We are very strict on raw materials and suppliers – the 100% of the stainless steel we use in our products is EU-origin.
Impact Resistance The austenitic microstructure of the 300 series provides high toughness, from elevated temperatures to far below freezing, making these steels suitable to all kind of environments; from the freezing Siberia to the extremely hot UAE. With Ultimate Tensile Strength of 89.900 PSI min. Stainless Steel remains the leader when it comes to impacts. This means that force of at least 89.900 PSI is needed to only deform the surface of a 1mm thick Stainless Steel sheet. Imagine what pressure is needed to deform a 3-5mm (or more) thick round fountain component or light fixture. This advantage is crucial when fountain systems and lights are exposed to the danger of vandalism.
It is important to appreciate that stainless steel is a solid material and not a special coating applied to ordinary steel to give it “stainless” properties. Conventional steels and, indeed, several other metals such as Bronze, Brass, and Tombac are often coated or “plated” with white metals such as chromium, nickel or zinc to protect their surfaces or to provide other surface characteristics. While such coatings have their own benefits and are still widely used, the danger exists that the coating can be penetrated or damaged in some way, such that its protective effect is undermined.
A major performance killer of cast fountain nozzles is the bumpy inner surface which is responsible for the so-called Coarse Flow Phenomenon. Imagine water as myriads of little water particles coming into a nozzle, moving in one direction. The ones near the nozzle’s inner wall encounter tremendous friction and bounce on the small bumps. As a result, these particles are diverted and start hitting one another, diverting more and more water particles, leading to even more collisions and inevitably affect the overall flow performance of the nozzle. Our nozzles are made of pure stainless steel and are precisely manufactured to offer a frictionless, bump-less inner surface for water to flow and consequently Fontana nozzles provide significantly better flow performance compared to other cast nozzles. In other words, stainless steel nozzles require less powerful pumps to achieve the same water effect compared to inefficient cast bronze, brass or tombac ones.