Fake copper mesh.

[Garouda]

Living in a remote small province, for many parts I need for our hobby, I need to order them on the internet, from China.
I bought that copper mesh in January 2022, but did not use it until last month.
I wanted to try stripping runs with a fractionating column, which is simply a column filled with pot scrubbers or mesh. My normal pot still needs a column because I’m using the same Liebig condenser as with my VM still, and that one is quite long.
At first sight, I was convinced this was not real copper, simply due to the bright orange hue you can still notice on some parts of the picture. Normally, in such a case I open a dispute, but I had no time.
Look at the picture, after just only one run, the mesh is completely corroded. Due to the scarcity of copper, they start selling red brass instead of red copper, here it’s not even red brass, but coated iron.
The name of that shop is Winmart, I sent them a message with that picture, they did not reply.
There’s also some copper mesh in my VM column, also bought on the internet from China in 2020, and that one is OK, but that shop does not sell it any more.

[Demy]

I can't see clearly from the photo, but if it is simple coated iron it should rust in contact with water and air.

[Garouda]

Indeed, the picture does not correctly render the colours. The corroded part is more black than on the picture. I took new pictures, in day light this time.
Iron oxide is black, it's not rust.

Definitely not copper

In a still you have heat and various volatile products, to have the reddish rust colour, it needs to stay in open air for a longer time.

My real copper mesh shows a uniform colouration after several runs, not this one.

Copper does not have that bright orange hue...

I got the same result with fake pot scrubbers sold as stainless steel, but in fact simply made of iron. They broke apart after a few runs. This was years ago and I did not take pictures.
I found the right pot scrubbers locally, and they remain unchanged after many runs.

[Bushman]

Here is what I did.
Making your own packing

[shadylane]

Fake copper mesh.

Take a piece and anneal it with flame. To see how malleable it becomes.
Soak it in vinegar, rinse and wait to see if it rusts.

[Garouda]

Fake copper mesh.
Take a piece and anneal it with flame. To see how malleable it becomes.
Soak it in vinegar, rinse and wait to see if it rusts.

Thank you for your reply.
Frankly speaking, I don't need to do so, it's obviously crab. A visual comparison with genuine copper mesh is more than enough.
I got once a problem with copper fittings, the seller claimed it was red copper, there were already two hints, the orange hue and the sound that showed it was red bras. The hammer was a hydrostatic scale I mounted to measure the density. I won the case and got a 100% refund.
I did not have the time to measure the density of this copper mesh, so I did not open a dispute with that shop.