Technical: Materials
With finishes, the most common base material we use in luminaire manufacture is aluminium, and a great number of finishes can be applied to it.
Aluminium is a great thermal conductor making it ideal for heatsinks and thermal dissipation, it is also not a scarce material (75% of aluminium ever produced is still in use today), it is often available to us in high recycled content and it can be easily recycled at the end of life.
In some cases there are arguments to use other materials for either function or aesthetic considerations. We can often re-engineer standard products to be made from alternative materials as well as considering other materials for bespoke products:
316 L A4 Stainless Steel
A great material for exterior applications where superior corrosion resistance is needed. It also has aesthetic qualities though it is heavier and more expensive than aluminium. It's also not such a great thermal conductor so can limit output compared to aluminium in the same product design.
Brass
Sometimes used for aesthetic reasons, it can be polished, brushed or machined then lacquered to protect it or left raw to tarnish and age naturally. It can even be aged or distressed by us in advance with waxes to preserve as for as possible the desired look. Unlike painted and plated finishes, these artisan finishes are harder to be precise about, matching to an agreed sample or swatch will help both communicating expectation and delivering to them. Brass can come in different grades too, its an alloy of other metals so they can look like different colours when compared next to one another. Please speak to us for advice on which grade to use.
Bronze
A beautiful alloy of copper and tin with definite aesthetic qualities. It is also very heavy and very expensive. Bronze luminaires can look fantastic but it’s the material cost that often turns people to our antique bronze powder coated finish and bronze colours of anodised aluminium. see Finishing.
Copper
Copper is obviously prevalent in luminaires as the main choice for electrical conductors in wires and for contacts in electrical connectors due to its electrical conductivity. Some parts of luminaires can be made of copper for its aesthetic qualities.
Stoane Lighting endeavor to use high recycled content materials in the production of its luminaires. It also aims to reduce the waste generated from the production facility by capturing waste locally and using that for the manufacture of other luminaires.
Waste Capture
At Stoane Lighting we believe that waste isn’t waste until you waste it.
