APPLICATIONS
Overhead ground wire, shield wire protecting transmission lines against lightning damage.

CONSTRUCTION
Aluminum clad steel wire is used by power utilities as well as formed wire and optical ground wire manufacturers. Aluminum clad steel wire outlasts other options in corrosive environments, significantly lowering maintenance and replacement costs. When compared to solid aluminum wire, aluminum clad steel wire offers tremendous savings.

Aluminum clad steel overhead grounding wire has excellent corrosion resistance. Its strength and conductivity remain unchanged in any atmosphere where aluminum is satisfactory, especially those known to be corrosive from industrial or atmospheric conditions.

This assurance against corrosion is obtained through the application of a thick covering of pure aluminum which provides a substantial barrier of protective metal. The cladding has a continuous, strong metallic bond to the steel core that will not crack or flake.

Aluminum clad steel wire also provides strength greater than or equal to other overhead ground wires. When used in a strand for overhead ground wire, this high strength permits greater span lengths, less sag and heavier loads under storm loading conditions.

Directly related to strength and sag performance is the lighter weight of aluminum clad steel wire. Due to its thick cladding of aluminum, aluminum clad steel wire is lighter that a steel strand of equivalent size. This lighter weight, combined with high strength, permits aluminum clad steel wire to be installed to the same sags as steel with correspondingly lower tensions and tower stresses on the towers or supporting structures.

STANDARDS

  • ASTM A363 - Zinc-Coated (Galvanized) Steel Overhead Ground Wire Strand
  • ASTM A475 - Zinc-Coated Steel Wire Strand
  • ASTM A925 - Zinc-5% Aluminum-Mischmetal Alloy-Coated Steel Overhead Ground Wire Strand
  • ASTM A855 - Zinc-5% Aluminum-Mischmetal Alloy-Coated Steel Wire Strand
  • ASTM A640 - Zinc-Coated Steel Strand for Messenger Support of Figure 8 Cable

NOTES
Dimensions and weights are nominal values, subject to standard manufacturing tolerances.