×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Copper Vs Stainless Steel in an Earth Mat

Copper Vs Stainless Steel in an Earth Mat

Copper Vs Stainless Steel in an Earth Mat

(OP)
Hi there,

I have a bit of a dilemma. My supervisor just returned from Germany and while he was there he discovered that on Cell Sites they use stainless to form a ring with electrodes to earth the mast. Has anyone out there know any pros and cons of using stainless over copper.

Thx in advance

RE: Copper Vs Stainless Steel in an Earth Mat

Interesting cuz stainless corrodes in the absence of air {I thinklookaround}.

Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.- <http://www.flaminsystems.com>

RE: Copper Vs Stainless Steel in an Earth Mat

copper- cheaper, good conductivity, easy to weld in the field, common grounding material.

Stainless- well, can't think of a reason to use it other than corrosion.

JTK

RE: Copper Vs Stainless Steel in an Earth Mat

Galvanized strip is common in Europe.  A lot of copper in the ground may cause problems with galvanic corrosion of galvanized steel buried nearby.  

RE: Copper Vs Stainless Steel in an Earth Mat

According to Erico, SS is for highly corrosive soils and has a longer service life. http://www.erico.com/products.asp?folderid=164

It is true that SS corrodes in the absence of O2 (not air). Probably not an issue in most places, but might be in some.

RE: Copper Vs Stainless Steel in an Earth Mat

Do a google search and read up on stress corrosion.  Stainless can corrode in different modes.  Copper corrodes uniformly over the entire area of the matt or ground rod.  Stainless can corrode between the grains of the metal and develope cracks ( stress corrosion).   Stainless is pretty but not allways the best choice for ground mats or rods.  You've got homework.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources