What is Purple Copper?
Purple copper, also known as red copper, is named for its purplish red color. Generally we call purple copper as pure copper, which is actually inaccurate, because pure copper in the strict sense, theoretically the copper content should be close to 100%. Purple copper is a relatively pure copper, but it can not be completely equivalent to pure copper.
Violet copper is oxygenated, also called oxygenated copper. The copper content of purple copper is in the range of 99.5%-99.99%. Copper has good electrical and thermal conductivity, excellent plasticity, easy to hot press and cold pressure processing, widely used in the manufacture of wires, cables, brushes, EDM special etching etching copper and other requirements of good electrical conductivity products.
The main grades of copper are: T1, T2, T3.
T1: copper content of 99.95% or more, the total impurities do not exceed 0.05%.
T2: copper content of 99.90% or more, the total impurity content does not exceed 0.1%.
T3: copper content above 99.7%, total impurity content not more than 0.3%.
In addition, in the international standard, there are C11000 and other grades, C11000 copper content is also higher, general copper + silver content needs to be ≥ 99.90%.
What is oxygen-free copper?
Oxygen-free copper is generally considered to be pure copper that does not contain oxygen or any deoxidizer or residue; however, it actually still contains a very small amount of oxygen and some impurities, just a very small amount! According to the standard, its oxygen content is not greater than 0.003%, the total content of impurities is not greater than 0.05%, and the purity of copper is greater than 99.95%.
Therefore, oxygen-free copper has higher electrical and thermal conductivity, as well as better corrosion resistance and processing performance due to its very low oxygen content. Oxygen-free copper is mainly used for electric vacuum instrumentation parts, such as busbar, conductive strip, waveguide, coaxial cable, vacuum seals, vacuum tubes, transistors of the components. Oxygen-free copper has excellent processing performance and is suitable for fine processing. Oxygen-free copper can be regarded as a special type of purple copper.
The main grades of oxygen-free copper are: TU1, TU2, C10100, C10200.
TU1: The purity reaches 99.97%, the oxygen content is not more than 0.003%, and the total impurity content is not more than 0.03%. This oxygen-free copper has a very high purity, with good electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance and processing performance, no hydrogen embrittlement phenomenon, is a high-quality copper materials, commonly used in the purity of the material and the performance of the requirements of the higher occasions, such as electronics, electrical and other fields.
TU2: copper element content greater than 99.95%, oxygen content of not more than 0.003%, the total content of impurities is not greater than 0.05%. TU2 oxygen-free copper also has good electrical conductivity, hot and cold machining properties and welding performance, malleability is excellent, often used in the electrical conductivity and ductility requirements of the environment components, equipment, production and processing, such as conductive rows, waveguide, electrode materials.
C10100: usually contains more than 99.99% copper, oxygen content is less than 0.001%. This is a high-purity oxygen-free copper material with excellent electrical and thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance, low porosity and excellent molding and processing performance, which has a wide range of applications in the electronics and electrical appliances, aerospace, automotive manufacturing, transmission machinery and other industries.
C10200: copper content ≥99.95%, impurity sum ≤0.05%. It can be used in electric vacuum devices and instruments, meters and so on.
Difference in appearance between the two:
Color
Purple copper: usually shows a purple-red color, which is the reason for its name. The color is more bright and has a certain degree of luster. Due to easy oxidation in the air, a dark red or dark black copper oxide film may gradually form on its surface, but the overall purple-red background color can still be seen.
Oxygen-free copper: The appearance is generally a purer copper color, close to silver-white or light yellow. Because of the very low oxygen content, relatively stable in the air, the oxidation rate is much slower than the purple copper, so the surface color change is smaller, can be maintained for a longer period of time brighter metal color.
Surface Finish
Purple copper: Due to its relative softness, it is easy to appear scratches, scuff marks, etc. in the process of processing and use, and the surface finish may be affected to some extent. The oxidized surface of copper violet may appear rougher and lose part of its metallic luster.
Oxygen-free copper: usually has a high surface finish and looks smooth and delicate. Because of the high purity of oxygen-free copper, the material is relatively uniform, and it is easier to obtain a better surface quality during processing.
