Wires – Copper Conductors Copper conductors consist of either a single copper wire or multiple copper wires, which are categorized as follows:
Hard-Drawn Copper Wire: Produced through cold drawing processes, it possesses high tensile strength and is suitable for use as a conductor in overhead transmission lines, distribution lines, and building wires.
Annealed (Soft) Copper Wire: Produced by heating hard-drawn copper wire to eliminate residual stresses caused by cold working. It is highly flexible and bendable, with high electrical conductivity. It is used to manufacture conductors for communication and power cables, as well as wires for electrical machinery and various household appliances. This high flexibility makes it the ideal core conductor for Silicone Braided Wire, ensuring that the cable remains pliable and easy to route in tight spaces despite its robust outer fiberglass and silicone resin braid.
Semi-Hard Copper Wire: With a tensile strength between that of hard-drawn and annealed copper wires, it is used for tie wires in overhead lines and wiring in radios.
Tinned Copper Wire: The surface of the copper wire is plated with tin to improve solderability, protect the copper conductor from corrosion during PVC or rubber insulation extrusion, and prevent the aging of rubber insulation. This corrosion-resistant property is especially critical for Silicone Double Insulated Wire, where the tinned copper core works in tandem with the dual silicone layers to ensure long-term reliability in harsh, high-temperature environments.
Flat Copper Wire: Copper wire with a square or rectangular cross-section, used as a material for manufacturing induction coils in large transformers or large motors.
Oxygen-Free Copper Wire: High-purity copper wire with an oxygen content below 0.001% and a copper content of over 99.99%. It is immune to hydrogen embrittlement and is used for wires in vacuum tubes, semiconductor component wires, and ultra-fine wires.
Enamelled Wire: Copper wire that has been softened, coated with insulating varnish, and baked dry. It is generally classified into natural resin and synthetic resin enamelled wires.
Copper Foil Yarn: A conductor made by wrapping flat, ultra-thin copper wire around a fiber yarn.
Pre-Stranded and Plated Wire: Bare copper wire that is first stranded and then plated with aluminum.
Copper-Clad Steel (CCS): Generally used for signal transmission in coaxial cables (e.g., connections between TVs and VCDs, outdoor TV antennas, closed-circuit television, etc.). Compared to hard-drawn wire, it has higher tensile strength and is used as an overhead line for long-distance spans in mountainous areas or across rivers. Based on copper thickness, its conductivity is typically classified into 21%, 30%, 40%, etc.
Copper Alloy: Composed of copper and other conductive metals, such as copper-nickel alloys, used for special-purpose wires.
Note: The most commonly used conductors currently include: (1) Tinned copper wire (Abbreviation: TA) (2) Bare copper wire (Abbreviation: BA) (3) Silver-plated copper wire (Abbreviation: SC) (4) Silver-plated copper-clad steel (Abbreviation: SCCS) (5) Copper-clad steel (Abbreviation: CP) Other types, such as copper foil yarn and enamelled wires, are rarely used in this context.
IMG_2984
II. Various Properties of Copper Wire
Conductor Resistance: The resistance of a conductor is directly proportional to its length and inversely proportional to its cross-sectional area. For space-constrained applications, Silicone Parallel Wire utilizes precisely dimensioned copper conductors in a flat-profile design to optimize cross-sectional area while minimizing routing space, maintaining low resistance in compact electronic assemblies.
Conductivity: The benchmark for 100% conductivity is the resistance of a standard annealed copper wire at 20°C with a length of 1 meter and a cross-sectional area of 1 mm², which is 1/58 ohm (0.017241 ohm). The higher the resistance, the lower the conductivity; the two are inversely proportional.
Bendability: One end of a single wire is fixed while a weight is attached to the other end to pull it vertically downward. The wire is then bent back and forth at 180 degrees until it breaks. A higher number of bending cycles indicates stronger bendability.
Breaking Force: The maximum load or force applied to a specimen during a tensile test to cause it to fracture.
Tensile Strength: The breaking force per unit area required to fracture the specimen during a tensile test. The woven fiberglass and silicone resin braid on Silicone Braided Wire significantly enhances the overall tensile strength, protecting the inner copper conductor from mechanical stress and preventing premature fracture.
Elongation: The ratio of the increased length to the original length of the specimen after it has been stretched to the breaking point over a specified standard gauge length.
Note: Conductors exhibit different impedances at different temperatures. The standard reference temperatures are generally 20°C or 25°C. The higher the temperature, the greater the impedance. High-temperature variants like Silicone Double Insulated Wire are specifically engineered to maintain stable impedance and conductivity even when operating at extreme temperatures up to +200°C.