The first talks of an environmentally friendly alternative to copper cadmium was heard in the mid-Nineties. Lamifil had developed CuMg (copper magnesium), an alloy with superior breaking load and flexlife compared to ETP-copper while maintaining high conductivity.
These characteristics combined with good wear in time and higher temperature capacity make CuMg commonly used for contact wires and messenger cables in railway systems, especially for high speed lines. CuMg can resist higher tensions for speeds well above 300 km/hr. The reason for the success of CuMg in high speed lines is the superior alloy quality, allowing to reduce energy losses on the line and save on the total cost of ownership. The extended list of realizations is growing every year, with the oldest high speed line in CuMg dating from 1999 from Paris to Brussels.
The advantages of CuMg were first used in Railway. In the mean CuMg has found a whole range of applications across different sectors. Automotive for instance is a market where the increased tensile strength and high conductivity have allowed to replace Cu-Etp for specific application. The result for these wires was the reduction of copper by more than 50%, bringing volume, weight and cost reductions to the automotive OEMs.
Lamifil continues its research on alloys and can offer an extensive range of sub-qualities in order to achieve the perfect balance between conductivity and tensile strength.
