US1891495A

US1891495A - Alloy

Info

Publication number: US1891495A
Application number: US517301A
Authority: US
Inventors: Jr William H Bassett; Robert H Leach
Original assignee: Anaconda Wire and Cable Co
Current assignee: Anaconda Wire and Cable Co
Priority date: 1931-02-20
Filing date: 1931-02-20
Publication date: 1932-12-20
Anticipated expiration: 1949-12-20

Description

Patented Dec. 20, 1932" A UNITED "STATES PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM H. BASSETT, J'B., OF SCARSDALE, AND ROBERT E. LEACH, OI FAIBFIELD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNORS TO'ANACONDA. WIRE & CABLE COMPANY,

OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A. CORPORATION OF DELAWARE v ALLOY No Drawing.

Our invention relates to a metal alloy composed principally of copper and particularly 7 suitable for making conductor wires such as tively high tensile strength without sacrificing conductivity to too great an extent. For example, a certain size of bronze trolley wire having a tensile strength of 61,000 pounds per square inch and a conductivity of not less than 90% of the conductivity of a copper wire of the same diameter. Other types of wires 'may require a tensile strength even higher than 61,000 pounds per square inch, the requirements for lead-in wires of certain types being about 90,000 pounds per square inch.

Heretofore copper-cadmium alloys have been employed in order to obtain the desired tensile strength and conductivity, the cadmium constituted below approximately 1% of the alloy. The cadmium increases the tensile strength of the alloy but tends to decrease its conductivity. content reaches 0.75% of the alloy or 1%, the alloy becomes extremely difiicult to roll in the usual commercial hot rod mill because alloys containing these, or larger quantities of cadmium, can'be successfully handled only within a narrow temperature limit. Therefore, the metal tends to crack when subjected to the usual hot rolling treatment. This is particularly the case in alloys made with tough pitch copper at copper refineries. 35 An object of our invention is to produce an alloy consisting principally of copper and containing cadmium which will readily per mit the commercial hot rollin or cold rolling of the alloy into bars and the rawing of these bars to the required dimensions; and to provide an alloy having a high tensile strength, ductility and electrical conductivity.

Another object of our invention is to pro vide a method of making alloy of the above type and for forming it lnto wires or cables.

11 our invention we form an alloy of copper, cadmium and silver, the silver replacing a proportionate part of the cadmium in a copper-cadmium alloy. By thus substituting silver for some of the cadmium in the alloy Application filed February 20, 1981. Serial No. 517,801.

When the cadmiumit is possible to obtain equal or better physical properties. 'For example, an equal tensile strength may be'obtained with a higher conductivity or, for a wire of the same conductivity, a higher tensile strength may be obtained.

Moreover, the alloy can be easily handled in hot rolling operatlons, even with a hi her content of cadmium and silver inasmuc as the rolling temperature need not be in as narrow a range as in the case of a copper-cadmium alloy of the same total alloying constitiuents.

The proportions of the silver and cadmium in the nal alloy are but a fraction of a per cent of the alloy, the cadmium content ranging from about 4% to about 1% and the silver from about to about the balance being copper. For exam 1e, an alloy containing silver, A7?) ca mium and 7 the balance copper, has a conductivity of approximately based on the international annealed co per standard at 20 C. and has the require strength, meeting the. breaking strength requirement of pounds for 0.051 .7 inch diameter hard drawn wire and 1600 pounds breaking strength for 0.162 inch diameter, hard drawn wire. The conductivity of the wire and the, exact strength following adefinite amount of cold working depends upon the cadmium and silver'content of the alloy, the material containing the smaller amount of cadmiumand the smaller amount of silver having a higher conductivity and a lower strength than the material having a larger content of cadmium and c of silver.

The alloy may be formed by introducing the cadmium and silver in determined quantities directly into the copper or by preparing an alloy of cadmium and silver in the required proportions and amounts and then introducing this alloy into the copper. The

latter method is preferred as it is easier to obtain a better control of the composition of the alloy.

In manufacturing this alloy into a wire the material is preferably cast into 200 pound bars of approximately four inches s uare in cross section or into 250 pound bi lets of approximately five inches diameter. The bars or billets after casting are heated in a. mufile furnace and hot rolled to the final rolled diameter ranging from ths of an inch to ths of an inch, depending upon the type of material to be drawn. The wire after being drawn to size may be wound on a reel. It may then be passed through a flux and through molten tin and wiped to give a satisfactory tinned surface in order to protect the wire from rubber or insulating materials in the event that the wire is to be insulated. Wires of this type are suitable for use as trolley wires, telephone and telegraph distribution wires, twisted pair drop or leadin wires such as are used for telephone installations, and for alloy or composite cables, whether used for stranded conductors or cables of hollow conductor type, and for other numerous purposes.

Our alloy gives a. wire which is especially adapted to commercial production in copper refineries or tough pitch copper whether or not deoxidized with a metallic reducing agent. It can be subsequently hot rolled and drawn in accordance with standard commercial processes into various sizes and shapes of wire. In addition to its high strength and high electrical conductivity, it has a high resistance to abrasion and erosion.

What we claim is:

1. An alloy consisting of copper, cadmium and silver, the cadmium content being between approximately one quarter of a er cent and 1%, and the silver content being between approximately one-eighth of a per cent and tliree quarters ofa per cent.

2. A process of making an alloy of the above type which comprises forming an alloy of cadmium and silver and adding said alloy to copper in amounts less than 2% of said copper. i

3. The process of claim 2 in which the cadmium and silver contents of said alloys are between one-quarter and 1% and oneeighth and three-quarters of a percent respectively of the total amount of the resulting alloy.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto signed our names.

\VILLIAM H. BASSETT, JR. ROBERT H. LEACH.