Top 32 Common Copper Uses in Your Daily Life
More than half of the worlds copper is used in the power and telecommunications industries today. The Crusher is widely used in electricity, machinery, vehicles, ships, construction industry and civil appliances.
1. Copper applications in the electrical industry
Power transmission
A large amount of high-conductivity copper is consumed in power transmission, which is mainly used for power, cables, bus bars, transformers, switches, interconnecting device, connectors, etc.
Over the past period, measures have been taken to replace copper with aluminium in overhead high-voltage transmission lines. Considering environmental protection, air transmission lines will be replaced by underground cables now. In this case, aluminium is dwarfed by copper by its poor conductivity and large cable size.
For the same reason, it is also a wise choice to replace the aluminium winding transformer with an energy-efficient copper winding transformer.
The energy-efficient copper winding transformer
Motor manufacturing
Copper alloys with high conductivity and high strength are widely used in motor manufacturing. The internal energy consumption of the motor mainly comes from the resistance loss of the winding. Therefore, increasing the copper wire section is a key measure for the development of an efficient motor. In recent years, compared with the traditional motor, some high-efficiency motors have been developed with the usage of copper windings increased by 25-100%.
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Communication Cable
As people rely more and more on communication, the demand for optical fibre cables and copper wires will continue to increase.
Copper wires in optical fibre cables
Residential electrical wiring
In recent years, with the improvement of peoples living standard and the rapid popularization of home appliances, the residential electricity load increases rapidly. Residential electricity consumption will still have a great development in the future, which also greatly increases the application of copper wire.2. Copper applications in the electronics industry
At present, the application of copper in the electronic industry has developed from electric vacuum devices and printed circuits to microelectronics and semiconductor integrated circuits.
The application of copper in microelectronics and semiconductor integrated circuits
Electric vacuum device
Electric vacuum devices are mainly high-frequency and ultra-high-frequency launch tubes, waveguides, magnetrons, etc., which require high-purity oxygen-free copper and dispersion-strengthened oxygen-free copper.Printed circuit
For those occasions that require the fine layout of circuits, such as radios, televisions, computers, etc., the use of printed circuits can save a lot of labour in wiring and fixed loops, thus requiring large amounts of copper foil.In addition, a variety of copper-based brazing materials with low cost, low melting point, and good fluidity are required for circuit connection.
Copper application in printed circuit
Integrated circuit
The core of microelectronics technology is integrated circuits. The new microchip using copper can achieve a 30 percent efficiency gain, reduce the line size of the circuit to 0.12 microns and enable the number of transistors integrated on a single chip to reach 2 million. This creates a new situation for the application of copper, the ancient metal, in the latest technical field of semiconductor integrated circuits.
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3. Copper applications in the energy and petrochemical industries
Energy industry
Because copper has good thermal conductivity and can resist corrosion by water, the main condenser of thermal power generation is made of brass, aluminium brass or white copper.The use of solar energy also needs many copper tubes. For example, a swimming pool in a hotel near London, UK, is equipped with a solar heater, which can keep the water temperature between 18 to 24¡ãC in summer. The solar heater contains 784 pounds (356 kilograms) of copper tubes.
Copper tubes in solar energy
Petrochemical industry
It is widely used in the petrochemical industry to manufacture various containers, piping systems, filters, pumps and valves, etc. that are exposed to corrosive media.
Copper can be used to make various evaporators, heat exchangers and condensers.
Copper is especially suitable for the manufacture of heat exchangers with intricate structures and cross brasses in the modern chemical industry. Bronze production tools are also used in petroleum refining plants.
Marine industry
Because the copper ions dissolved in the water have a bactericidal effect, which can prevent marine biological fouling, in addition to the seawater corrosion resistance of copper, copper and copper alloys are very important materials in the marine industry and have been widely used in seawater desalination plants, offshore oil and gas platforms, and other coastal and seabed facilities.Piping systems, pumps and valves used in seawater desalination, and equipment used on oil and gas platforms, including splash-zone and underwater bolts, drilling days, pump valves and piping, etc.
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4. Copper applications in the transportation industry
Ship
Many copper alloys, such as aluminium bronze, manganese bronze, aluminium brass, gun copper (tin zinc bronze), white copper and nickel-copper alloy (Monel alloy), have become standard materials for shipbuilding due to their excellent corrosion resistance to seawater.Copper and copper alloys generally account for 2 ~ 3% of the dead weight of warships and merchant ships. The propellers of warships and most large merchant ships, weighing 20-25 tons, are made of aluminium bronze or brass.
The warship containing 2 ~ 3% copper and copper alloys
Car
The copper used for cars is 10 ~ 21 kg each, Crusher, accounting for about 6 ~ 9% of the dead weight for small cars. Copper and copper alloys are mainly used for radiators, brake piping, hydraulic units, gears, bearings, brake pads, power distribution and power systems, gaskets, various joints, fittings and trim, etc.Railway
The electrification of railways requires a large amount of copper and copper alloys. Over 2 tons of special-shaped copper wires are required for each kilometer of overhead conductors. To increase its strength, a small amount of copper (about 1%) or silver is often added. In addition, the motors, rectifiers, control, braking, electrical and signal systems on the train all rely on copper and copper alloys.
Copper and copper alloys in railways
Airplane
Airplanes cant sail without copper. For example, copper is needed in wiring, hydraulic, cooling, and pneumatic systems in aircraft; bearing retainers and landing gear bearings are made of the aluminum bronze pipe; navigation instruments are made of magnetic-resistant steel alloys; copper elastic elements are used in many instruments.5. Copper applications in the mechanical and metallurgical industries
Mechanical Engineering
Copper parts can be found in almost all machines, such as gears, worm gears, worms, couplings, fasteners, twisted parts, screws, nuts, etc.Bearings or bushings made of anti-attrition copper alloy are used in almost all parts for relative mechanical motion.
Almost all elastic components use silicon bronze and tin bronze as materials. Welding tools, die casting moulds, etc. are more dependent on copper alloys.
Metallurgical equipment
In the construction of metallurgical plants, it is usually necessary to have a huge transmission and distribution system as well as electric power operation equipment that rely on copper to work.Alloy additives
Copper is an important additive element in alloys such as steel and aluminium. Adding a small amount of copper (0.2 ~ 0.5%) to low alloy steel can improve its strength and corrosion resistance to atmospheric and oceanic corrosion. High-nickel alloys containing about 30% copper are famous high-strength corrosion-resistant "Monel alloys" that are widely used in the nuclear industry.
Copper: an important additive element in alloys
6. Copper applications in light industry
Light industrial products are closely related to peoples lives. Because of its good overall performance, copper can be seen everywhere.Air conditioner and freezer
Relying on the good processing property of copper, the heat exchanger with internal grooves and high fins is produced, which can be used in the heat exchanger of air conditioner, refrigerating machine, chemical industry and waste heat outlet, etc. The total thermal conductivity of the new heat exchanger can be increased to 2 ~ 3 times that of the ordinary type.
The copper-made heat exchanger
Clock
Most of the working parts of currently produced clocks, timers and devices with clockwork are made of "clock brass".A modern watch factory that uses copper alloy as the main material, processing with press machines and precise moulds, can produce 10,000 to 30,000 watches per day at a low cost.
Copper alloy: the main material in a modern watch factory
Papermaking
The paper seems simple, but the papermaking process is very complex, requiring many steps and many machines, including coolers, evaporators, pulpers, paper machines, etc. Many of these components, such as various heat exchange tubes, rollers, blow rods, semi-liquid pumps and wire mesh, are mostly made of copper alloy.
