Bicc Plc

British Insulated Callender's Cables Limited

Peter Michael Raw

Rees Jenkin Llewellyn

Peter Gregory

Alan John Bangay

Elongate copper bodies, such as rods and wires, of electric conductor grade are made by electrodepositing copper as brittle cathodes which are then broken into fragments and fed as such to a continuously-acting friction-effected extrusion machine (such as Conform or Linex) which consolidates, bonds and extrudes them. The fragments have a specific surface area of about 25 - 1000 mm.sup.2 /g, and they are not subjected to any high-temperature purification or grain growth step prior to extrusion, though moderate pre-heating is allowed. Avoidance of high-temperature processing, such as conventional casting and hot-rolling, saves much energy and in addition copper of higher quality is produced.

Fabrication of copper

An aluminium alloy conductor wire consists of between 97.25 and 99.4 (preferably 98.05 to 99.2) weight percent aluminium; between 0.3 and 1.0 (preferably 0.45 to 0.6) weight percent iron; between 0.22 and 0.7 (preferably 0.225 to 0.3) weight percent silicon, the ratio of Fe:Si being at least 4:3 and preferably at least 2:1; between 0.08 and 1.0 (preferably 0.2 to 0.5) weight percent copper; and trace quantities of conventional impurities. The conductor wire is especially suitable for use as a conductor of a telecommunication cable or as a component element of an overhead electric conductor.

Aluminium alloy conductor wire

A conductor wire is composed of an aluminium alloy consisting of between 98.0 and 99.5 weight percent aluminium; between 0.3 and 1.0, preferably 0.4 to 0.6, weight percent iron; between 0.16 and 1.2, preferably 0.3 to 1.0, weight percent silicon; and trace quantities of conventional impurities. The conductor wire has a higher tensile strength than wires of known aluminium alloys which contain similar quantities of iron and is especially suitable for use in telecommunication cables, wiring cables and overhead conductors. The conductor wire may have a cladding of copper or copper alloy.

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Harrow, United Kingdom

Peter Michael Raw