In recent years, with the emergence of copper clad aluminum cable, the price of originally expensive pure copper cable has become more user-friendly, which has promoted the development of China's wire and cable industry to a certain extent. Copper clad aluminum is formed by concentric coating copper layer on the surface of aluminum or aluminum/steel alloy core material and drawing. The thickness of copper layer is more than 0.55mm. What are the differences between copper clad aluminum cable and pure copper cable in terms of performance, advantages and disadvantages?

In terms of mechanical properties, the strength and elongation of pure copper conductor are greater than that of copper clad aluminum conductor, which means that pure copper is better than copper clad aluminum in mechanical properties. From the point of view of cable design, the advantages of pure copper conductor over copper clad aluminum conductor in mechanical strength are not necessarily required in practical application. Copper clad aluminum conductor is much lighter than pure copper, so the overall weight of copper clad aluminum cable is lighter than that of pure copper conductor cable, which will bring convenience to cable transportation and cable erection. In addition, copper clad aluminum is a little softer than pure copper, and cables produced with copper clad aluminum conductors are a little better than pure copper cables in terms of flexibility.

In terms of electrical performance, because the conductivity of aluminum is inferior to that of copper, the DC resistance of copper clad aluminum conductor is greater than that of pure copper conductor. Whether this has an impact mainly depends on whether the cable will be used to supply power, such as providing power to the amplifier. If it is used to supply power, the copper clad aluminum conductor will lead to additional power consumption, and the voltage will decrease more. When the frequency exceeds 5MHz, there is no obvious difference in the attenuation of AC resistance under these two different conductors. Of course, this is mainly because of the skin effect of high-frequency current. The higher the frequency is, the closer the current flows to the conductor surface. On the surface of the copper clad aluminum conductor, it is actually pure copper. When the frequency is high enough, the entire current is plated in the copper material and flows. At 5MHz, the current flows in the thickness of about 0.025mm near the surface, and the thickness of copper layer of copper clad aluminum conductor is about twice that. For coaxial cable, since the transmitted signal is above 5MHz, the transmission effect of copper clad aluminum conductor and pure copper conductor is the same. This can be proved in the actual test of cable attenuation.

In terms of economy, copper clad aluminum conductors are sold by weight, and pure copper conductors are also sold by weight. The price of copper clad aluminum conductors is higher than that of pure copper conductors of the same weight. However, the copper clad aluminum with the same weight is much longer than the pure copper conductor, and the cable is calculated by length. Copper clad aluminum cable of the same weight is 2.5 times the length of copper wire, and the price is only a few hundred yuan more per ton. In summary, copper clad aluminum cable has advantages. As the copper clad aluminum cable produced by Asian cable is relatively light, the transportation cost, installation and erection cost of the cable will be reduced, which will bring some convenience to the construction.

Copper clad aluminum cable is also a good way to relieve the pressure of enterprises at present. The aluminum wire is wrapped with a layer of copper drawn bimetallic wire. Because of its small proportion, good transmission performance and other advantages, it is particularly suitable for the inner conductor of RF coaxial cable. Compared with pure copper wire, its density is about 40% pure copper. The transmission characteristics are better than pure copper wire, and it is the most ideal inner conductor of branch line of RF coaxial cable.