We’d like to share with you this paper written by Bob Yanniello, Division Engineer Manager at Eaton Electrical Inc.

Bob's paper concludes that, “aluminum, as proven by third-party standards such as UL, is a suitable conductor in many electrical products and has been given a bad rap due to problems associated with residential wire terminations. Aluminum provides a lower weight to current-carrying ratio compared to copper. Aluminum has a lower tensile strength than copper, but approaches that of copper for the equivalent ampacity. When terminated with appropriate plating, hardware and processes as stipulated by the governing standards, aluminum bussing, wiring and terminations prove to be as reliable as copper. Finally, the choice of aluminum conductors can provide a significant cost savings.”

Topics that are covered are:

• Misconceptions
• Mechanical properties
• Electrical Properties
• Reliability Considerations
• Cost Considerations
• Manufacturers’ Limitations

Click here to read the paper.