Because of the aluminum’s good conductive performance, since 1960, North America had adopted aluminum material for cables. In the early stages, pure aluminum material is used for cable, just as it was in high voltage overhead line,but lately, 8000 series aluminum alloy replaced pure aluminum.

(1).Origin of Aluminum Alloy Cable

During the 1965-1971, in the US ,buildings that used a number of pure aluminum-core cable  caught fire frequently. Through inspection, the main reason was found as  the  dedicated connector for aluminum-core cables were not available, and  the copper-core cable connectors were used directly, causing relaxation  between the the aluminum wire and socket or switch, microscopic damage, arc. All of these the contact increased resistance  overheating and finally triggered fires.

To reverse this situation, the North American cable industry has taken the following measures to improve cable products and connectors from several aspects.

With respect ot the materials, the United States South Line and  Canada Aluminum Corp. invented some of 8000 series aluminum alloy notably  the  8176 aluminum alloy and, 8030 aluminum alloy  to  enhance the creep property.

With regard to the connection for wires,  various methods were employed to improve the connection performance, including using tin plating terminals technology, putting special gasket between the aluminum wire and copper terminals, coating the antioxidant on  the connection point, designing special socket etc.

As for industrial standards, with the experiment of United States UL Company, as well as the United States National Fire Committee (NFPA), in 1985, NEC Electrical demanded that  for electric appliance under 2000V certain types of wire aluminum conductor should be 8000 series aluminum alloy. 1988, the American Association of Materials and Testing (ASTM) promulgated the B800 standard, incorporating 6 brands of 8000 series aluminum alloys into the cable conductor standard.