Innovations : The Metallurgy of Copper Wire

Skip to search
Skip to primary navigation menu
Skip to secondary navigation menu
Skip to main body of content
Skip to footer
Back to top
Home
Contact Us
Press Room
Questions?

A Copper Alliance Member

enter keyword

Search

Applications

Architecture
Design Handbook
Copper in Architecture Awards
Featured Projects
FAQs
Finishes
Educational Programs
Architecural Manufacturers & Distributors
Consultants and Contractors

Automotive
Electric Vehicles
Copper-Nickel Brake Tube
Radiators and Heat Exchangers

Electrical
Building Wire
Power Quality
Busbar

Tube, Pipe & Fittings

Copper Tube Handbook
http://www.copper.org/publications/newsletters/innovations/1997/12/wiremetallurgy.html[2/12/2015 8:48:40 PM]

Innovations : The Metallurgy of Copper Wire

Overview
Key Copper Benefits
HVAC/R
DX Geothermal Heat Pumps
Tech Corner
Applications

Fuel Gas
Industrial
Casting Alloys
Bronze Sleeve Bearings
Selecting Bronze Bearing Materials
Electronic Connector Design Guide
Copper Alloy Molds
Mold Design Guidelines

Marine
Copper Nickel

Machined Products
Free-Cutting Brass
Copper and Brass Forgings
Bronze Sleeve Bearings
Forging Guide Glossary

Telecommunications
Antimicrobial
Do It Proper With Copper Video Series
Resources

Find Suppliers of Copper

Copper Alloy Supplier Database
Architectural Installation Contractors Database
Architecural Manufacturers & Distributors

Copper Technical Reference Library

Publications List

http://www.copper.org/publications/newsletters/innovations/1997/12/wiremetallurgy.html[2/12/2015 8:48:40 PM]

Innovations : The Metallurgy of Copper Wire

Seminars, Workshops & Training

Market Data
Standards & Specifications
UNS Standard Designation for Wrought and Cast Copper
ASTM Standard Designation for Wrought and Cast Copper and Copper Alloys
International Alloy Systems for Copper
Comparison of National Standards
Cross Specification Index
European Numbering System for Non-Ferrous Metals
Inactive Alloys
Registering A New Copper Alloy

Alloy Properties & Uses

Copper Alloys Search - Basic
Copper Alloys Search - Advanced
Properties of Copper
Low Temperature Properties of Copper
Cryogenic Properties of Copper
Copper Compounds
Microstructures of Copper Alloys
Corrosion Protection & Resistance
Powder Metallurgy
Metallurgy of Copper-Base Alloys

Questions?
Consumers

Copper in the Arts

2014 Archive
2013 Archive
2012 Archive
2011 Archive
2010 Archive
2009 Archive
2008 Archive
2007 Archive

Copper in Your Home

Archtecture, Lighting & Decor
Cookware & Decorations
Do It Yourself
Electrical & Communications Wiring

http://www.copper.org/publications/newsletters/innovations/1997/12/wiremetallurgy.html[2/12/2015 8:48:40 PM]

Innovations : The Metallurgy of Copper Wire

Environment & Health

Home Planning
Plumbing, Heating & Cooling
Innovations & Technology
Copper Links
FAQs
Copper News

Copper & Human Health

Education

Copper Is...
Copper Production
Copper Facts
History of Copper
60 Centuries of Copper
Copper in the USA

The Statue of Liberty

Concept
Construction & Installation
Facts & Figures
Repair Concerns
Repair Details
Reclothed Lady

Copper and Kids

Fingerprint Disinfection Test
Copper Experiment
Seek a Word
Connect the Dots
Private Whys?
Where Does Copper Come From?
Copper Production

The Copper Learning Center

Environment

Sustainable Energy
http://www.copper.org/publications/newsletters/innovations/1997/12/wiremetallurgy.html[2/12/2015 8:48:40 PM]

Innovations : The Metallurgy of Copper Wire

Electric Motors
Energy Efficiency
Energy Storage
Renewables
Transformers
Latest in SE
SE at a Glance

Mining & Recycling

Trends In Copper Alloy Scrap In The U.S.
Copper - The World's Most Reusable Resource
Recycling of Copper

Green Properties of Copper

Copper in Drinking Water
Corrosion Symposium Report
Lead-free Solders for Drinking Water Plumbing Systems

Copper in the Natural Environment

Case Studies
Copper Roof Stormwater Runoff
Copper in Brake Pads
Publications

Newsletters
Building & Architecture News
Discover Copper Online
Innovations

Publications List
About CDA

CDA Mission
CDA Staff
Press Room
2014 Press Releases
2013 Press Releases
2012 Press Releases
2011 Press Releases
http://www.copper.org/publications/newsletters/innovations/1997/12/wiremetallurgy.html[2/12/2015 8:48:40 PM]

Innovations : The Metallurgy of Copper Wire

2010 Press Releases

2009 Press Releases
2008 Press Releases
2007 Press Releases
2006 Press Releases
2005 Press Releases
2004 Press Releases
2003 Press Releases
2002 Press Releases
2001 Press Releases
2000 Press Releases
1999 Press Releases
1998 Press Releases
1997 Press Releases
1996 Press Releases

Membership
Associate Membership
Association By-Laws
CDA Membership Application

Member Login
Tradeshows
2014
2015

Disclaimer
Contact Us
Link to Us
Site Help
Subscribe to Copper.org

Home
Publications
Newsletters
http://www.copper.org/publications/newsletters/innovations/1997/12/wiremetallurgy.html[2/12/2015 8:48:40 PM]

Innovations : The Metallurgy of Copper Wire

Innovations
1997 Archive
The Metallurgy of Copper Wire

Publications
Direct Exchange Thermal Systems: The Wave Of The Future
Copper Alloy Molds: Why Didn't Someone Tell Me Sooner?
The Metallurgy of Copper Wire
Innovations

December 1997

The Metallurgy of Copper Wire

Copper Applications in Metallurgy of Copper & Copper Alloys
By Dr. Horace Pops
Director-Metals Laboratory
Essex Group, Inc.
Introduction
Conductor Requirements
Applications
Production of Rod and Wire
Role Of Impurities
Influence of Oxygen Content
Thermal-Mech. Process Var.
Annealing Behavior
Surface Effects
Future Challenges
Summary

Introduction
Copper is the preferred and predominant choice in the electrical industry because of its high conductivity, both electrical
and thermal. In order to obtain the required properties, unalloyed high purity copper is almost always used. This article
discusses the rationale for this choice, and pays particular attention to the underlying metallurgical principles. It is
intended to serve as a technical discussion of pertinent developments spanning the past several decades in the copper
wire industry.
Back to Top

Conductor Requirements
Considerable progress has been made in recent years to explain the electronic nature of the noble metals, i.e., copper,
silver, and gold. These elements exhibit high conductivity because their conduction electrons show relatively little
resistance to movement under an electric field. Copper in particular is an excellent conductor because outermost
electrons have a large mean free path (about 100 atomic spacings) between collisions. The electrical resistivity is
inversely related to this mean free path.

http://www.copper.org/publications/newsletters/innovations/1997/12/wiremetallurgy.html[2/12/2015 8:48:40 PM]

Innovations : The Metallurgy of Copper Wire

Several electrically conductive metals are lighter than copper, but since they would require larger cross-sections to carry
the same current, are unacceptable if limited space is a major requirement (e.g., in small electric motors). Consequently,
aluminum is used mainly when excessive weight could become a problem. Copper possesses the best characteristics for
commercial applications, inasmuch as silver must be dismissed because of its prohibitively high cost.
Back to Top

Applications
Copper is one of the few metals that finds most widespread use in the pure form, rather than as an alloy. There are
approximately four dozen different wrought alloys that contain a minimum copper content of 99.3 weight percent (and
therefore designated as "coppers"), albeit only a handful are used industrially as electrical conductors. The most widely
used of these dilute alloys is known as electrolytic tough pitch (ETP) copper, which consists of extremely high purity
metal that has been alloyed with oxygen in the range of 100 to 650 ppm. ETP copper is not recommended for use in
hydrogen environments due to its susceptibility to hydrogen embrittlement when exposed to these temperatures. Under
these environmental environments, either oxygen-free (OF) or oxygen-free electronic (OFE) grades of copper should be
used. Silver bearing copper (OFS) finds limited use in power transformers because of its higher strength and softening
resistance at elevated temperature.
Back to Top

Production of Rod and Wire

Prior to the 1970s nearly all copper rod was made by a batch process, which included pouring and solidification of
molten copper into special shaped ingots known as wirebars, reheating the bars in a slightly reducing protective
atmosphere, and breaking up the cast dendritic structure by hot rolling in air to a rod form. This was followed by
pickling in 10 percent sulfuric acid to remove oxides, and by butt welding of one end to another to form larger coil
lengths. Today, a continuous casting and rolling process produces virtually all copper rod. Benefits of continuous
casting include less microsegregation of impurities, reduction of copper oxide particles on the surface, fewer steel
inclusions resulting from contact with mill rolls, almost total elimination of welds, and lower overall processing costs.
Oxygen is intentionally alloyed with copper to act as a scavenger for dissolved hydrogen and sulfur to form the gases H
2O and SO 2 in the melt. If the oxygen content is kept under control, microscopic bubbles form throughout, and under
ideal conditions will offset the approximately 4% shrinkage in volume associated with the liquid-to-solid
transformation. If the resulting pores are not too large, they are completely eliminated during hot rolling.
Most continuous casting and rolling units contain non-destructive equipment (eddy-current) that is used on-line to detect
surface defects such as cracks and oxides. For certain high quality applications, several mils of metal are oftentimes
removed from the rod surface by mechanical shaving.
Most round and square copper products are manufactured by wire drawing using either conventional manmade
polycrystalline dies or natural single crystal diamond dies. Copper has excellent formability, and can be easily drawn
from rod into very fine wire sizes without the need for intermediate process anneals. In spite of this desirable
characteristic, common practice in the magnet wire industry is to limit the area reduction during drawing to about 90%,
followed by an anneal. Beyond that level of reduction, metallurgical structure changes can occur which can degrade the
wire's mechanical properties. Magnet wire is often produced by the so called "in line process" which involves "slow"
speed wire drawing followed in line by continuous annealing performed in tandem with enameling. The final wire
products are improved appreciably by limiting the area reduction between anneals to about 90%.
Back to Top

Role of Impurities
http://www.copper.org/publications/newsletters/innovations/1997/12/wiremetallurgy.html[2/12/2015 8:48:40 PM]

Innovations : The Metallurgy of Copper Wire

Chemistry is one of the most important variables needed for the establishment of high electrical conductivity. The most
harmful of these elements can significantly decrease electrical conductivity, increase the mechanical strength of the
annealed wire, retard recrystallization, and will sometimes induce hot shortness during the hot rolling process in the
production of rod. Numerous investigations have shown that very small additions of solute elements may increase the
electrical resistivity (decrease conductivity) of copper in a linear manner as illustrated in Figure 1. Many impurities
increase the half-hard recrystallization temperature in a non-linear relationship. However, the deleterious effects on
conductivity are minimized when the impurities are tied up in precipitates or oxides rather than in solution.
Resistivity,

ohm-meters
Percent impurity by weight
Figure 1. Influence of solute elements upon the elecrical resistivity of copper at ambient temperature.
Figure 2 shows the effects of various single element additions to a high purity ETP copper containing only 200 ppm of
oxygen. In general, the first few parts per million of impurities have their greatest impact upon annealability compared
with subsequent equal additions. However, it should be noted that the purity of commercial copper has improved
dramatically since the electrical standards for copper, established in 1913, were represented by a conductivity of 100%
IACS. Today, most commercial copper cathodes have conductivities approaching well over 101% IACS.
Half-Hard
Recrystalization

Temperature, C
Solute Content, ppm, Weight
Figure 2. Influence of single element additions to ETP copper upon the half-hard recrystallization temperature.

http://www.copper.org/publications/newsletters/innovations/1997/12/wiremetallurgy.html[2/12/2015 8:48:40 PM]

Innovations : The Metallurgy of Copper Wire

Back to Top

Influence of Oxygen Content

Oxygen is used as an alloying element to improve the soundness of "as-cast" copper bars through the control of gasmetal reactions. Equally important, oxygen acts as a scavenger in reacting with most of the impurities, which have their
most potent effects on properties and annealing response when they are dissolved in the copper matrix. In contrast,
harmful effects may be nullified when impurities are tied up as insoluble oxides. The maximum conductivity of ETP
copper occurs at approximately 200 ppm of oxygen as shown in Figure 3. Consequently, oxygen content for ETP
copper is generally in the range of 175 to 450 ppm. Lower oxygen values are usually avoided because of a propensity to
hot cracking resulting from uncombined impurities. In contrast, oxygen values in excess of this optimum concentration
range are not too common because of an adverse effect upon formability. Actual oxygen content is a compromise
between attaining better (less sluggish) annealing behavior and avoiding possible drawability problems.
Electrical
Conductivity,

% IACS
Oxygen Content, Weight %
Figure 3. Effect of oxygen content on the electrical conductivity of annealed copper.
Back to Top

Importance of Thermal-Mechanical Process Variables

In addition to oxides formed from metallic impurities, equilibrium copper oxides can be made to either dissolve or
precipitate from a copper matrix by altering the thermal history. These types of solid state reactions may also influence
the final grain size because copper oxide inclusions help to promote a small uniform grain size during recrystallization.
However, secondary recrystallization (abnormal grain growth) is associated with a duplex grain structure caused by the
dissolution of oxides during a high temperature anneal. The propensity for grain coarsening and duplex grains is
attributed to solution temperatures in excess of 500 C, and to oxygen concentrations less than 600 ppm. Some of these
grain size results are exhibited in Figure 4. Coarse grains formed prior to wire drawing are not eliminated after the
subsequent lower temperature anneals. The rate of cooling from high temperature can also influence the high
temperature mechanical properties, particularly when the levels of impurities are high. Rapid quenching results in high,
non-equilibrium levels of impurities in solid solution. On the other hand, slow cooling allows for the interaction
between impurities and oxygen, which leads to subsequent precipitation from solid solution.
Annealed
Grain Size,

http://www.copper.org/publications/newsletters/innovations/1997/12/wiremetallurgy.html[2/12/2015 8:48:40 PM]

Innovations : The Metallurgy of Copper Wire

Microns
Solution Anneal Temperature, C
Figure 4. Effect of pre-annealing temperature upon subsequent grain size of annealed ETP copper.
The amount of cold work by either wire drawing or rolling between intermediate process anneals is limited for
commercial magnet wire. It is desirable to limit the amount of cold work prior to the final anneal in order to have good
conformability (the ability of the wire to hold its shape during forming or winding with minimal springback). A high
elastic modulus and low yield strength are desired properties because they are both indicative of minimum springback.
Back to Top

Annealing Behavior
Annealability of copper is a complex characteristic that is governed by large local inhomogeneities which can change
with deformation and thermal history, metal purity, and oxygen content. Impurities play a much smaller role in
affecting annealing behavior when they have precipitated, as opposed to being in solid solution. A correlation exists
between annealing temperature and the atomic size difference between solvent (copper in this case) and solute (the
impurity). Valence of a solute element is also an important parameter affecting annealability. However, due to the
complexities associated with the thermodynamic interactions of multiple species, annealability cannot be simply related
to such plausible parameters as atomic volume or valence of the solute.
Back to Top

Surface Effects
At ambient temperature, copper wire always contains a residual oxide film that originates from the hot, continuous-cast
bar as it feeds into the hot rod rolling stage. It has now become standard practice in the copper industry to measure the
residual surface oxide film thickness using a coulometric reduction test method. The oxide films can be quite
deleterious, since they may lead to the generation of defects during drawing, excessive wear of drawing dies,
inadequate solderability, and poor adhesion between the enamel film and the bare conductor.
Copper rod defects often time originate from the continuous casting and rolling process, and include slag and copper
oxide inclusions, hot-cracks, slivers, fold-over of the as-cast bar corners, insufficient removal of scale, or coining of
oxide particles into the rod surface. Most of the intermetallic inclusions are brittle, and act as sites for crack initiation
and propagation in the as-drawn wire. With respect to defects, fine magnet wire and shaped wire are the most critical
products to produce.
The largest single classification of surface defects originates from wire drawing, and occurs on the bare conductor
http://www.copper.org/publications/newsletters/innovations/1997/12/wiremetallurgy.html[2/12/2015 8:48:40 PM]

Innovations : The Metallurgy of Copper Wire

surface as die marks, mechanical damage, gouges or slivers. Slivers formed because of wire drawing problems tend to
be free from entrapped oxides. Surface damage is frequently caused by misalignment of the moving wire within the
drawing machine or by the compaction of copper fines inside the throat of the wire drawing die.
Back to Top

Future Challenges
The demand for better surface quality and increased package size will continue to accelerate, and will place an even
heavier emphasis on "defect free" rod and fewer wire breaks (i.e., superior drawability). The driving force for these
requirements will be better energy efficiency, increased global competition, more household appliances, and smaller
size motors where space is a premium, as for example, in automotive applications. Consequently, finer gage sizes will
be used more often.
With the advent of electrowinning and continual improvements in electrolytic refining, the purity of current commercial
copper cathodes appears to have reached an acceptable plateau, and there is presently no need for further reducing the
impurity levels. In the free machining brass industry, however, bismuth is starting to be used as an alloying element for
the replacement of lead. Since bismuth is extremely poisonous to electrical copper conductors (>1 ppm can not be
tolerated), it is imperative that the brass and copper scrap streams be completely separated from one another.
A major concern facing the wire industry is the extremely high quantity of surface defects that are generated during wire
drawing by abrasive or delamination wear. To help alleviate this problem, emphasis is being placed on improvements
in rod surface quality, drawing lubricants, filtration of solid particulates, and production of synthetic single crystal
diamond drawing dies.
An important future challenge is to develop more sensitive sensors for the non-destructive detection of defects on bar,
rod, and wire using non-contact test methods. Many of the harmful surface defects are too small to be detected by the
eddy-current inspection equipment used presently. In addition, on-line inspection equipment needs to be developed to
easily detect the presence of macroporosity and other internal defects.
Factors affecting the properties, processing and performance of electrical copper conductors in wire form can be
rationalized fairly well on the basis of existing metallurgical principles. However, the relationship between impurity
level and both annealing temperature and electrical resistivity need to be refined further in a more quantitative manner.
Back to Top

Summary
Unalloyed pure copper, rather than its alloys, is used almost exclusively as electrical wire conductors. Oxygen is
intentionally added in small quantities to control the impurity level and improve the electrical conductivity. Final
properties and processing behavior are intimately related to impurity and oxygen contents, and can be adequately
explained using basic metallurgical principles.

Also in this Issue:

Direct Exchange Thermal Systems:
The Wave Of The Future
Copper Alloy Molds:
Why Didn't Someone Tell Me Sooner?
The Metallurgy of Copper Wire

Archives:
http://www.copper.org/publications/newsletters/innovations/1997/12/wiremetallurgy.html[2/12/2015 8:48:40 PM]

Innovations : The Metallurgy of Copper Wire

2007
|
2006
|
2005
|
2004
|
2003
|
2002
|
2001
|
2000
|
1999
|
1998
|
1997
Home
Disclaimer
Link to Us
Membership
Sitemap
AAA
Copyright 2015 Copper Development Association Inc. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.copper.org/publications/newsletters/innovations/1997/12/wiremetallurgy.html[2/12/2015 8:48:40 PM]