Types of copper rods commonly used in the cable industry

Copper rod is a common primary material in the cable industry. The types of copper rods are mainly divided into two types: low-oxygen copper rods and oxygen-free copper rods.

Because there are two different production methods for copper rods, the continuous casting and rolling method and the upward continuous casting method, different production methods have different oxygen content and appearance in the copper rods produced. The copper rod produced by the upward continuous casting method has a proper oxygen content below 10ppm, which is called an oxygen-free copper rod.

Hypoxic copper rod

Process disadvantages:

The electrolytic copper is melted while being added, and the molten copper water has no conditions for complete reduction. The whole melting process and the process of copper water production cannot be isolated from oxygen, so the oxygen content is very high. The molten copper fuel is generally gas. During the combustion process of the gas, it will directly affect the chemical composition of the copper liquid, and the influences include sulfur and hydrogen.

Process advantages:

(1) The output is high. Generally, the output of small units can reach 10 to 14 tons per hour.

(2) The copper rod unloading adopts the plum blossom type, which is convenient for the wire pulling machine to pay off the wire.

(3) The take-up weight is significant, generally up to 4 tons per reel.

Low oxygen copper rod grades and characteristics:

There are T1, T2, and T3, three grades of low-oxygen copper rods. The low-oxygen copper rods are all hot-rolled, so they are soft rods, codenamed R.

(1) T1: To produce low-oxygen copper rods, use high-purity electrolytic copper as raw material (with copper content greater than 99.9975%).

(2) T2: To produce low-oxygen copper rods, use 1# electrolytic copper as raw material (with copper content greater than 99.95%).

(3) T3: Use 2# electrolytic copper as raw material (with more than 99.90%copper content) to produce low-oxygen copper rods. Because there are few high-purity electrolytic coppers and 2# electrolytic copper generally, 1# electrolytic copper is used as raw material on the market, so the general grade of the low-oxygen copper rod is T2R.

Oxygen-free copper rod

Oxygen-free copper rods are pure copper without oxygen and any deoxidizer residues. But in fact, it still contains a tiny amount of oxygen and some impurities. According to the standard, the oxygen content is not more than 0.02%, the total content of impurities is not more than 0.05%, and the purity of copper is more than 99.95%.

It is generally produced with electrolytic copper, and the resistivity is lower than that of low-oxygen copper rods. Therefore, in the production of products with stricter resistance requirements, oxygen-free copper rods are more economical; manufacturing oxygen-free copper rods requires high-quality raw materials;

According to the oxygen content and impurity content, oxygen-free copper rods are divided into TU1 and TU2 copper rods. The purity of the TU1 oxygen-free copper rod reaches 99.99%, and the oxygen content is not more than 0.001%; the purity of the TU2 oxygen-free copper rod reaches 99.95%, and the oxygen content is not more than 0.002%.