Thanks to modern casting techniques, extensive know-how and a great variety of PIAD materials, we believe that our cast parts fulfil the highest requirements and demands of electrical conductivity, hardness, tensile strength, and resistance to corrosion and wear.
PIAD recognise two material categories, which have specific characteristics: Conducting Materials and Engineering Materials, which generally have different areas of application. In addition, it is possible to sort the alloys into three categories: copper, brass and bronze. Each material has a PIAD specific norm or standard, which is always more tightly controlled than the general one for each material such that the tolerances and impurity levels for each element are tighter or lower than in general. PIAD-norms guarantee the high quality standards of PIAD products, which is yet another example of the attention to detail that ensures PIAD is the market leader.
Copper: The perfect material for electro technology.
Copper is used in many forms for electro technology due to its high electrical conductivity: as wires; sheets; strips and profiles; or as formed parts. For a long time, sand casting was used to produce these parts but the resulting parts that have a significantly lower electrical conductivity. The process is also more expensive as sand casting moulds can only be used once. Two good reasons for replacing the sand casting method with the permanent mould casting method. Years of development have resulted in our ability to cast the whole spectrum of copper alloys in permanent moulds. The single most important benefit of permanent mould casting for electrical component applications being that it is possible to cast copper without deoxidation elements so that an electrical conductivity of 55 m/mm² Ω is guaranteed.
During the melting process of copper with the permanent mould casting method a small amount of oxygen remains in the form of copper oxide, Cu2O. The copper and the copper oxide form a eutectic, which is measurable with a metallographic examination. That makes it easy to adjust the oxygen level in the melt. The result is that a conductivity of electrolyte copper up to 58.0 m/mm² Ω is achievable.
The permanent mould casting method does not affect the characteristics of the copper material. This is the reason why highly conductive, pure copper – CU-C-GM, EN 1982 – has a wide range of applications for the electrical industry, especially as its high conductance is possible with a low resistance. It can also be used as a heat exchanger or cooling element due to the excellent thermal conductivity.
The copper chrome alloy, CuCr1- C-GM in accordance with EN 1982, has the advantage of high electrical conductivity combined with increased tensile strength and hardness. After solution heat treatment and quenching, the hardening of this alloy with a content of chrome between 0,4% and 1,2% takes place at around 550°C. This results in the increased strength and hardness. Possible areas of application for the copper chrome alloy are similar to the ones for pure copper as this alloy has an electrical conductivity which is 80% of that achieved with pure copper. This, combined with its resistance to wear, abrasion and particularly deformation means that CuCr1-C-GM can be used for many purposes but especially switchgear. Notably, the limit of elasticity is 6 times higher than that for cast pure copper.
Werkstoffübersicht: Kupfer C
| PIAD-Werksnorm | DIN EN 1982 | Alternative Bezeichnung | Spezifikationen |
|---|---|---|---|
| C 0110 | Cu-C | CC040A | |
| C 0210 | CuCr1-C | CC140C |
| PIAD-Werksnorm | DIN EN 1982 |
|---|---|
| C 0110 | Cu-C |
| C 0210 | CuCr1-C |
Brass: A material with good tensile strength characteristics
Brasses are an alloy of pure copper and zinc with high strength brass being achieved by additional alloying elements. In contrast with the popular opinion that brass is just suitable for low strength applications, this group of alloys is used to produce engineering components with medium to high tensile demands. For high strength brass with aluminium, manganese or iron elements, this is between 380 N/mm² up to 750 N/mm². Brass is also a good casting material that flows well when molten, so is suitable for complicated cast parts. It also has a good corrosion resistance. The high strength brass alloy silicon tombac has high tensile strength, hardness and strain values which combined with a cost effective production method make it ideal for many applications.
Brass and high strength brass are used in many different areas of the capital goods industry, for example as cases, levers, bolts, transmission elements and shifting forks. Additionally parts made of brass are perfectly suitable for components in gear tooth systems (rack wheels and bevel gears).
Engineered brass castings are used for parts with higher demands on tensile strength as well as good thermal and electrical conductivity.
Werkstoffübersicht: Messing (M=Standardmessing, S=Sondermessing)
| PIAD-Werksnorm | DIN EN 1982 | Alternative Bezeichnung | Spezifikationen |
| PIAD-Werksnorm | DIN EN 1982 |
Bronze: A material with a high resistance to wear and corrosion.
The tensile strength of the copper aluminium alloy better known as aluminium bronze starts from 500 N/mm² and can even go up to over 750 N/mm², and their resistance to wear is even higher than mild steel. The alloy is utilised in a variety of different industries: machine building; automotive; electric motors, precision mechanics and medical engineering as well as packaging, printing and textile machinery. Another interesting characteristic of the alloy for design engineers is the combination of tensile strength and high elongation at break. This allows parts to absorb energy in stress situations without breaking. Even when cold, the alloy keeps this precious characteristic, such that even in temperatures like -200°C, there is no significant embrittlement detectable. By increasing the content of aluminium the tensile strength and hardness increases, but at the same time the elongation of break decreases. By adding iron or manganese to the alloy the tensile strength increases even more. The corrosion resistance of this group of materials to slightly sour and basic saline solutions, and industrial waste water, is excellent. By adding nickel to the alloys their resistance to corrosion increases even further.
A further positive characteristic of copper aluminium alloys is also of interest to design engineers. This group of materials are capable of being welded to each other and even with steel. Joint welding of aluminium bronze casting parts with other materials like S235JR, machining steel or chrome nickel steel is usually relevant for larger and bulky parts which need to be connected permanently. TIG welding is commonly used where the materials are welded in an inert atmosphere. By guiding the electric arc in the right direction, the different melting points of steel and aluminium bronze can be balanced. Considering their heat resistance, copper aluminium alloys can be used in temperatures up to 300°C, where their high temperature resistance to oxidation is convincing as well, as scaling is only visible from 800°C upwards.
Werkstoffübersicht: Bronze (B=Zinnbronze, A=Aluminiumbronze)
| PIAD-Werksnorm | DIN EN 1982 | Alternative Bezeichnung | Spezifikationen |
| PIAD-Werksnorm | DIN EN 1982 |
PIAD In-House Development
Gesondert dargestellt finden Sie im Folgenden PIAD-eigenentwickelte, nicht genormte, Werkstoffe. Diese Werkstoffe kommen für anspruchsvolle Spezialanwendungen zum Einsatz.
Werkstoffübersicht: PIAD-Eigenentwicklung
| PIAD-Werksnorm | DIN EN 1982 | Alternative Bezeichnung | Spezifikationen |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 0120 | nicht genormt | Leitmessing | |
| S 0121 | nicht genormt | Leitmessing | |
| S 0700 | nicht genormt | Neusilber | |
| C 0300 | nicht genormt | ähnlich CuNi2Si-C | |
| C 0310 | nicht genormt | ähnlich CuNi3Si-C | |
| B 0121 | nicht genormt | Ähnlich CuSn12Ni2-C | |
| B 0140 | nicht genormt | ähnlich CuSn14-C (Lagerbronze) |
| PIAD-Werksnorm | DIN EN 1982 |
|---|---|
| S 0120 | nicht genormt |
| S 0121 | nicht genormt |
| S 0700 | nicht genormt |
| C 0300 | nicht genormt |
| C 0310 | nicht genormt |
| B 0121 | nicht genormt |
| B 0140 | nicht genormt |
