[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: tungsten carbide
Hi Richard,
> On another subject: Al is 1.64 times more resistive than Cu. It is
> easier to solder as well, so does anyone think it would be worth looking
> into getting some copper flashing for making home made capacitors? It
> can only improve the Q of them (reactance:resistance must be 1.64 times
> better). It occurs to me that once the primary coil has been optimised
> and the spark gap is as good as it gets, then the cap ought to be
> improved. At the moment we know that the gap is the most lossy
> component, in spite of the excellent improvements carried out by a lot
> of people. If anyone has any comments on this I would be interested to
> hear them. There is also the possibility of Ag plating on the primary
> coil (and the cap plates if they're Cu). This is nothing new but I
> thought it should be mentioned.
>
> Richard Craven
I suppose the over-riding consideration is cost and availability of
copper foil as opposed to aluminium. On plating: I have heard (but
not verified) that at the kind of frequencies we run at that could be
a disadvantage. The current will in preference flow in the more
conductive silver but if the silver is less than a skin depth at
operating frequency, it could worsen or not improve the conductivity
over that of copper. Anyone else heard this?
Malcolm