PowerFoilTM

Galvanic Barrier For Copper and Aluminum Connections

 

Prevents Galvanic Corrosion

á         The secret is a thin bimetallic foil made of copper and aluminum, bonded metallurgically at the atomic level.

á         The bond is of such high quality that diffusion reagents cannot make contact with the interface between the dissimilar metal surfaces, and corrosion products cannot form.

á         The PowerFoilTM is simply inserted between the cleaned surfaces of the two dissimilar contacts, and galvanic corrosion is completely suppressed.

 

Available in

á         Flat Washers - any size up to 2Ó dia.

á         And Flat Sheet - any size up to 12Ó x 30Ó

á         Thickness range - 0.125Ó To 0.050Ó

 

Performance

á        Galvanic corrosion occurs when electricity flows between two dissimilar materials such as copper and aluminum while they are in a corrosive environment. This process occurs even in normal atmosphere. Galvanic corrosion produces corrosion products that interfere with the flow of electricity and cause a rise in temperature. This temperature rise causes a vicious cycle, as it promotes the accumulation of these resistive products. The rate of galvanic corrosion depends on many factors such as area, temperature, humidity, and corrosivity of the environment, and it occurs to some degree in every case where dissimilar metals come into contact. In the electrical world, a common example is copper and aluminum. Eventually, the resistance becomes so high that the contacts must be cleaned. In an industrial setting, this not only wastes electricity, it also forces costly system shutdown and premature replacement of connections. The POWERFOILTM changes all this.

 

á        By placing the POWERFOILTM between the copper and aluminum contacts, a permanent barrier is established and galvanic corrosion is completely eliminated.

 

á        In a typical case in a chlorine electrolysis cell operating at 14,000 Amperes and 10 Volts, the resistance between the aluminum bussbar and the copper cathode was measured at 300 mV. After cleaning the connections, and inserting a POWERFOILTM between them, the resistance fell to 5 mV and stayed there. Under normal operating conditions, before introducing the POWERFOILTM, periodic shutdown and cleaning was required roughly on a monthly basis, but after the PowerFoilTM was installed, cleaning and shutdown is no longer required. The savings in downtime and labour, and the reduction in electricity costs resulted in a productivity increase of almost 20%.