Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01B—CABLES; CONDUCTORS; INSULATORS; SELECTION OF MATERIALS FOR THEIR CONDUCTIVE, INSULATING OR DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES
  • H01B1/00—Conductors or conductive bodies characterised by the conductive materials; Selection of materials as conductors
  • H01B1/02—Conductors or conductive bodies characterised by the conductive materials; Selection of materials as conductors mainly consisting of metals or alloys
  • H01B1/026—Alloys based on copper
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C25—ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PROCESSES; APPARATUS THEREFOR
  • C25D—PROCESSES FOR THE ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PRODUCTION OF COATINGS; ELECTROFORMING; APPARATUS THEREFOR
  • C25D1/00—Electroforming

Definitions

• the present invention has for its object to develop a simple process, by the application of which electrical conductors, such as wires, tubes, bus bars, coils for transformers and the like can be produced with higher conductivity than has heretofore been possible.
• copper conductor material having a conductivity of more than 60 Siemens units can surprisingly be obtained if the copper obtained by the Elmore process and mechanically worked up during the deposition (for example smoothed and compacted by glass balls) is not remelted, but is only subjected to a mechanical treatment, such as drawing, pressing or rolling, in order to produce the desired form.
• the full annealing which may be necessary between the individual working stages is preferably carried out in an inert or oxygen-free atmosphere in order to prevent absorption of oxygen or like gases, which would adversely affect the conductivity.
• Thin copper tubes for coils through which a cooling agent is passed can be produced from the obtained tubes by drawing.
• the tubes may be cut spirally and the copper strip thus obtained may be drawn to the desired wire thickness.
• an endless strip or an endless wire may be produced by turning on a lathe from the copper tubes produced by the Elmore method, the said strip or wire thereafter being further worked up in the usual manner.
• the working-up according to the invention (obtained by the Elmore method or a similar method) has proved particularly advantageous for the production of high current windings, such as secondary coils in heavy-current transformers.
• the electrolytically obtained tubes are cut spirally, so that a coil is obtained, the dimensions of which may correspond to the original tube.
• a further advantage is that an optimum utilization of the coil space can be obtained by reason of the rectangular cross-section of the turns.
• the inner and outer surfaces of the winding are smooth, so that the arrangement of the primary coils is facilitated.
• a hollow cylinder As heretofore in the electrolytic deposition, a solid block which may thereafter be brought to the desired thickness in a manner known per se in an extrusion press or by a rolling operation.
• a hollow cylinder of sufficient wall thickness is first produced in the usual manner (for example, as in the Elmore method, from which hollow cylinder a solid core can be milled or cut for the subsequent electrolysing process. Since the speed at which the copper is deposited in the electrolytic bath naturally depends upon the size of the surface of the cathode, the thickness of the initial cylinder will be made correspondingly large in order that a core of sufiicient diameter may be obtained.
• the wall thickness of the tube primarily produced should therefore amount to -200 mm.
• a segment which is thereafter converted into a round rod in known manner, for example on a lathe.
• the solid rod thus obtained having a diameter of about 100-200 mm., is then employed as a core, i.e. as the cathode inthe Elmore electrolysing process. Its diameter will be increased inaccordance with the desired purpose of use by the application of copper with mechanical compaction.
• the solid rod obtained consisting of pure, compacted copper is subdivided.
• One of the sections obtained will be tapered by extrusion pressing or by a suitable rolling operation in order that it may thereafter be employed as a solid core for a copper coating operation, while the other sections are worked up as copper blocks for the production of wires and the like.
• the first solid cathode rod is thus here obtained in the usual manner from a cylinder, While the cores subsequently required are merely prepared by extrusion pressing or rolling from the solid block material resulting from the preceding deposition.
• a segment is cut from a hollow cylinder produced in the usual manner by the Elmore method and having an internal diameter of 600 mm., an external diameter of 840 mm., and a length of 4 m., and a solid rod having a diameter of mm. is formed therefrom on a lathe.
• the rod thus obtained is then disposed in the electrolytic apparatus as a rotating cathode and copper is applied thereto with continuous smoothing of the surface until its diameter corresponds to the extrusion press receptacle, which generally has a width of 200 mm.
• the round solid copper block thus obtained is subdivided into lengths of 600 mm., which are usual for extrusion pressing.
• the new process is quite generally applicable to the manufacture of electric conductor material in all cases where conductor material can be directly produced from the electrolytic copper obtained with mechanical surface treatment and where high conductivity values are re- 'quired.
• the electric conductors produced by the process according to the invention have considerable technical importance because it is thus possible for the first time to fully utilise the conductivity of pure copper in practice.
• By the application of the new process it is possible to obtain electric conductors, the conductivity of which approaches that of silver, which is about 62 Siemens units, whereby a considerable saving of material can be achieved in the case of electric conductor material, to gether with a simplification in manufacture.
• the wire cross-section may be reduced by up to 5% with the same current loading, whereby considerable reductions in weight, for example in the case of transformers, can be efiected because the weight of the iron parts can also be reduced. Since no remelting operation is carried out in the production of the electric conductor material, the dangers of contamination, for example by incorporation of oxygen or material from the melting crucibles, which are involved in such an operation are absolutely obviated. In the technical performance of the melting copper such impurities can never be entirely avoided and small traces of other substances are sufficient to produce a marked deterioration in conductivity.
• a process for the production of electric conductor elements having a conductivity of more than Siemens units which comprises forming a thick-walled tube of compacted electrolytic copper by electrolytically depositing and compacting said copper on a cathode, cutting segments from said thick-walled tube, forming first solid rods from said segments, further electrolytically depositing and compacting copper on said first solid rods to form second solid rods of greater diameter, mechanically fabrieating a portion of the said second solid rods into electrical conductor elements without melting said copper and reusing another portion of said second solid rods as a base for again electrolytically depositing and compacting said copper.
• a process according to claim 1 including the step of annealing said compacted copper during the individual working stages in an inert atmosphere.

Landscapes

• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
• Electrochemistry (AREA)
• Materials Engineering (AREA)
• Metallurgy (AREA)
• Organic Chemistry (AREA)
• Electrolytic Production Of Metals (AREA)
• Conductive Materials (AREA)
• Extrusion Of Metal (AREA)
• Metal Extraction Processes (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=7068824

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (5)

Cited By (4)

Citations (6)

• 1957
  • 1957-08-12 DE DEE14529A patent/DE1103709B/de active Pending
• 1958
  • 1958-07-18 CH CH6197658A patent/CH365226A/de unknown
  • 1958-07-29 FR FR1200988D patent/FR1200988A/fr not_active Expired
  • 1958-08-11 US US754167A patent/US2975110A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1958-08-12 GB GB25939/58A patent/GB868286A/en not_active Expired

Patent Citations (6)

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