Re: Aluminum wire in an NST

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Bert Hickman by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <bert.hickman-at-aquila-dot-net>

Godfrey and all,

It is an inaccurate statement. This originated from a list member who had a
misunderstanding of magnetic phenomena and their effects relative to Tesla
Coils. In reality, aluminum wire (while indeed being slightly
paramagnetic), is perfectly safe and is used in many NST's and some
distribution transformers. For more details, search on "paramagnetic" in
the Tesla List archives.  

Best regards,

-- Bert --
-- 
Bert Hickman
Stoneridge Engineering
Email:    bert.hickman-at-aquila-dot-net
Web Site: http://www.teslamania-dot-com

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "Loudner, Godfrey by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <gloudner-at-SINTE.EDU>
> 
<SNIP>
> I read in the archives of the list that because aluminum was a paramagnetic
> material, aluminum wire was dangerous to use on a tesla coil. But I have no
> understanding of the nature of the dangers. Maybe its an inaccurate
> statement.
> 
> Godfrey Loudner
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Tesla list [SMTP:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
> > Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2001 12:33 PM
> > To:   tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> > Subject:      Aluminum wire in an NST
> >
> > Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
> > <Cydesho-at-aol-dot-com>
> >
> > I recently dismantled a 9kV 30mA Franceformer that I got my hands on. It
> > was
> > in pretty bad condition, so I decided to just take everything apart to
> > just
> > see what some of the innner workings were like. I was a bit surprised to
> > find
> > that the primary windings on the transformer were made of enameled
> > aluminum
> > wire. Is this some sort of alternative to using magnetic laminations in a
> > transformer for current limiting? Would this aluminum wire have any
> > practical
> > use in Tesla coiling?
> >                                             Justin
> >
> >