The History of Aluminum Cable in the U.S.

Stage One :The inappropriate pure aluminum cable and copper connection terminals triggered accidents.

Stage Two :Based on pure aluminum material 8000 series aluminum alloy were produced, which aims at enhancing the creep property of general aluminum cable and  solving  the problem of connection terminals.  

Sate Three:In 1985,the U.S .Electrical Law stipulates that in 2000V below some types of wire aluminum conductor should be used 8000 series aluminum alloy.The United States, aluminum alloy cable were just used for low pressure part of the field, not the medium pressure field.

Stage four:With the implement of  B800 Standard in 1988, the U.S . aluminum alloy cable’s  history is  no more than  30 years.

1350 aluminum and 8000 series aluminum 

A1350 electrical aluminum is  pure aluminum, The  aluminum  composition of 1050 aluminum is  99.5% min.8000 series aluminum  belong  to other aluminum alloy series. Its aluminum composition  is 98%min.  Si ,Cu, Fe ,Me, and other trace elements takes up totally  1% -1.5% in 8000 aluminum alloy. This means that the 8000 series aluminum alloy is based on pure aluminum, adding a little trace element, The trace element can improve the creep properties of aluminum,making it suitable  for  manufacturing  aluminum alloy cable, and did not change the properties of aluminum.

Therefore,compared  with 1000 series pure aluminum,8000 series aluminum alloy’s performance has no a fundamental improvement,and  its creep resistance has  been enhanced.

From the aluminum alloy product standard indicators we know that  8000 series aluminum alloy’s mechanical tensile strength is lower than the pure aluminum and pure copper by  30% and 100% respectively.Thus, fracture and  cracks are more often seen on  8000 series aluminum alloy cable,which   undoubtedly is  a major risk for the  stable operation of the cable.