Development and Application of New Materials for Copper Processing in China

After over 60 years of developmnt,a system for R&D and production of copper processing materials has already taken shape in China.After the reform and opening-up, the application of copper processing materials has gradually expanded from the military industry to civil field. The annual output of copper processing materials has grown from less than 10,000 tons in the early years of new China to over 10 million tons.

Especially in the last decade, as the national economy grew rapidly, a new round of investment boom of copper processing production line unfolded. During the period,China imported large quantities of advanced equipment and technologies, applied and developed a large number of new technologies,new processes and new equipment that are related to copper processing and with proprietary intellectual property rights, made breakthroughs in research on and development of new materials for copper processing,showing strong vitality of its copper processing industry.

In recent years, China's copper processing materials were mainly applied in electric,refrigeration, transportation, construction and electronics, etc. As is seen from major copperconsuming industries, the electric industry is still the main driver of the growth of copper consumption in China, accounting for nearly half of the total copper consumption of the country.

In 2012, most China’s copper processing materials, as always, went primarily to electric cable,followed by tube,bar,plate and strip.

The output of copper plate and strip grows year by year while the import volume of copper plate and strip is in decline. In despite of the accelerated substitution for imported products,the import scale of high-end copper plate and strip still remains at a high level.

To sum up, after 3 decades of rapid development, China has grown into a big country in terms of copper processing, but it is not strong in the processing fields of plate,strip,foil and wire,etc.,and quite a few copper processing products with high added value and technical content still are imported.

China’s new copper processing materials were constantly enhanced along with the world's new technological revolution over the past decades.H65 brass copper strip, transformer strip, blast furnace copper cooling stave, air-conditioning pipe, large-caliber white copper pipe, alloy for coinage, cable strip , lead frame copper strip,PV strip and copper for high-speed railway have successively led the development of new copper processing materials in China. In order to adapt to continuous application and development of new technologies and products,China constantly rolled out new copper alloy series and promoted such products for mutual development. The products are briefly described below:

1.Oxygen-free copper series products

Oxygen-free copper features high purity, high electro-conductivity, high thermal conductivity as well as good welding property and forming property, etc. Typical oxygen-free copper products are listed below:

(1)Transformer strip

Transformer copper strip is mainly used for the production of dry-type transformer winding.Dry-type transformer was imported to China at the end of 1980s. As a result of the rapid development of modernization in China and the increasing urban-rural grid load, dry-type transformer has been widely applied in China,which has become one of the countries with the largest output and sales volume of dry-type transformer in the world.

After decades of huge investments of China in its electric power industry, currently, the construction of urban and rural power grids and the growth of domestic demand for transformer strip start to level off. Now, the transformer strip products are in a mature period.

(2)Cable strip

Cable strip is mainly used for the production of the shielding layer of radio frequency cable.Mobile communication is the branch that grows fastest in China’s telecom field in recent years.Besides, radio frequency cable for mobile phone base station antenna and leakage cable for mobile communication also grow by leaps and bounds. After 10 years of rapid development,the market demand for cable strip has begun to shrink.

The main reason for the shrinkage of the cable market demand is the alternative of new technologies and materials in the construction of communication base stations. As a high-end and new material that led the high-speed development of copper processing products over the past decade, cable strip has entered rapidly in the period of recession in recent years.

2.Electronic tough pitch copper

It is mainly applied in electronics and electrical engineering for the production of small transformer winding, electronic screening,electronic radiator, conductive connector,rechargeable copper grid and conductive hardware,etc.

Currently, there are mainly 5 grades of electronic tough pitch copper,which are mainly used in copper rod,cable, automobile oil pump and motor in the power sector and rolled copper foil in the electronic industry.

3.Frame material

As an important part of integrated circuit, lead frame can be used to support chips, connect external circuits and emit heat, etc. Lead frame not only has strict requirements in terms of dimensional precision, surface quality and model, but also has excellent heat conduction,electrical conductivity, high strength, hardness and softening temperature, as well as excellent heat resistance, corrosion resistance, oxidation resistance, weldability, plastic packaging property and repeated bending property,etc.