Comparison of copper and aluminum cable

Comparison of copper and aluminum cable

Wires and cables are one of the most important and widely used electrical equipment. Cables are produced using different raw materials. The difference in the raw materials leads to the difference in the characteristics of these cables. In this article, we are going to compare two of the most used cables, i.e. copper cable and aluminum cable.

What is copper cable?

Copper wire is one of the most widely used electrical wires.

Copper metal has long been a suitable choice for the conductor of electric wires and cables because it had good conditions both electrically and economically. But the increase in the price of this metal and the relative limitation in mineral resources prompted producers to choose another option.

What is aluminum cable?

This choice was aluminum; Metal with sometimes unique features. Aluminum has more electrical resistance than copper; But its price is almost a third of the price of copper. This issue made aluminum cables more popular. So that today, a significant part of the wires and cables in the market are produced using this metal.

Aluminum can only be used in power cables or self-supporting or spaced, and so far no license has been issued for its use in the production of construction cables.

Each of these wires has advantages and disadvantages that we will review below.

Advantages and disadvantages of aluminum cable

Currently, the alloys used in aluminum conductors have improved physical properties and the problems of previous aluminum conductors have been resolved. Among the advantages of aluminum conductors is the same electrical conductivity and light weight, which makes it easier to install this type of cable in construction projects where bending and shaping of the cable is important in narrow environments.

Advantages of aluminum wire
lower price
Easier installation
low weight
Uniform electrical conductivity
Disadvantages of aluminum wire
Less conductive
Shorter lifespan
to oxidize
Low flexibility
Advantages and disadvantages of copper cable

The price of copper is much more expensive than aluminum, that’s why they use aluminum cable. If this cable is made according to standard principles, there will be no problem. The price of copper fluctuates greatly, while the pricing in the aluminum market is more uniform and stable. Currently, the unprecedented increase in the price of copper doubles the importance of alternative conductors, including aluminum.

Advantages of copper cable
Anti-oxidation
Corrosion resistant
Higher flexibility
Less energy loss due to lower resistance
High strength and longevity
High load capacity
Disadvantages of copper wire
higher price
more weight
Electrical conductivity coefficient of copper and aluminum

When we want to use a conductive material to conduct electricity in the electric cable, we must pay attention to several points. The first issue is the electrical resistance of this material. The lower the resistance, the better. On the other hand, the issue of economic efficiency is also raised.

Silver is a metal that performs better than copper from the point of view of electrical conductivity; But we see that except for some special applications, it is not widely used in wire and cable production. The reason is clear; Certainly no one buys silver at such a high price and then buries it under the ground

Special resistance of copper and aluminum

Regarding the higher resistance of aluminum, we might think that the use of such a cable will cause a voltage drop or an increase in the temperature of the cable during operation. If we choose the copper cable size with the same principles; Let’s choose the type of aluminum, there will be no special problem.

It doesn’t matter if the poor quality cable is aluminum or copper. In any case, due to the use of non-standard materials (undefined alloy), the cable will not function properly.

In other words, the amperage capacity and voltage drop are calculated and the appropriate size of the cable is determined. So it goes without saying that to pass a constant power, the cross-sectional area of ​​aluminum cable must be greater than copper.

Copper is more conductive than aluminum

Copper metal is the best choice in terms of electricity and is the most significant conductor material used in the distribution and transmission of electrical energy, which is used for wire and cable conductors due to its high electrical conductivity and excellent physical and mechanical properties. In fact, the conductivity of copper is much higher than that of aluminum.

Better electrical conductivity and higher conductivity coefficient due to the lower resistance of copper causes its lower energy consumption.

Identification of aluminum and copper cable

You can pay attention to some important features of the cable to distinguish aluminum and copper cables from each other. First, these two metals have different colors. Therefore, by looking at the thread inside the cable, you can recognize its type.

The life of both cables is almost the same and the belief that the copper cable lasts longer is a false belief. In fact, a quality copper cable lasts 30 years and an aluminum cable lasts 20 years. But if the cable is of poor quality, the lifespan of the copper cable may be even less

The next thing is the difference in the weight of copper and aluminum cable. If we compare two copper and aluminum cables of the same length, the copper wire will weigh more.

The elastic indices of copper are about 1.7 to 1.8 times higher than aluminum.

The load capacity of copper cable is 30% higher than that of aluminum cable.

Copper and aluminum cable comparison table
Copper aluminum cable

Silver copper
Very low conductivity
heavy light weight
High low thermal resistance
Very low cost
High, low, elastic strength
Low energy consumption