WCA July 2016

31 / 64

29
Wire & Cable ASIA – July/August 2016
Technologynews
WIRES with high electrical conductivity as well as high tensile
strength properties are required for certain tasks. Because their
mechanical strength is too low, pure copper wires, the best of
all industrially used conductors, are not usually suited for these
applications. However, ISA-CON® wires, which combine both
properties in an optimal manner, are well suited.
The brand designation stands for copper-based alloys that
have been developed by Isabellenhütte, a manufacturer of
high-tech alloys, which produces them in the form of wires.
The ISA-CON414 and ISA-CON1000 material types currently
form the focus of the production programme. The
designations consist of the brand name and the minimum
tensile strength (TS) in MPa*. Both alloys have a higher TS
than copper (200 MPa).
The other important property is electrical conductivity: for
pure copper, it is 58 x 106 S/m, which is equivalent to 100 per
cent IACS (international annealed copper standard). At 90 per
cent IACS when annealed, the ISA-CON 414 material comes
very close to copper.
The high-strength material ISA-CON1000, at 60 per cent
IACS, is also considerably more conductive than the widely
used copper-clad stainless steel wires, which achieve 40 per
cent IACS.
ISA-CON414 is a RoHS-compliant material that can
replace similar materials containing cadmium and fulfils
the requirements of the ASTM B624 norm (standard
specification for high-strength, high-conductivity copper-alloy
wire for electronic application). The high-strength material
ISA-CON1000 contains the alloy elements silver and zircon.
Wires made of both materials are able to intercept high
tensile loads elastically, have a high degree of hardness, are
corrosion resistant and retain their properties for long periods
of use, even at higher temperatures.
ISA-CON wires are delivered as round and stranded wires
with diameters ranging from 0.05 to 0.3mm. ISA-CON414
wires are also available in rods with diameters ranging from
0.8 to 1.2mm.
Typical fields of application are signal and overhead wires for
railways and automotive cables. In light of the need to save
space and weight, the automotive industry and other sectors
require conductive wires with the smallest possible diameters
(miniaturisation) that are also able to reliably fulfil increasingly
strict demands in terms of load capacity and required service
life.
* 1 MPa = 1N/mm²
Isabellenhütte Heusler GmbH & Co KG – Germany
Website:
Good electrical conductivity and tensile strength
❍ ISA-CON wires well suited for high electrical conductivity and
high tensile strength