Sounds like it'll be used with battery-voltage on this project, so no real problem there. Aluminium should be fine as long as the OP accounts for the higher resistance and realises that it may be more prone to damage than copper wire would be.

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Good riddance, ETO .

 

Personally I would just stick with copper. It may be more expensive when considering mass-production, but low reactivity and high electrical conductivity are the two main reasons why it's used, and aluminium is second-rate in both areas.

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Good riddance, ETO .

 

Very true.
In fact I have replaced burned out aluminium windings with copper, simply because the copper wire is more readily available.

 

Certainly it's never been used as mains wiring?
Nigel, it was commonplace up until the 70's for new homes to be built with aluminum wiring, at least in the states, if you buy a home in many older neighboorhoods you'll still have to deal with it. It's not that horrible of an idea, aluminum oxidizes into a self insulating corrosion product. Expansion and contraction with heat makes connections an issue, but if enough of it is used it's cheaper than copper and just as reliable when done by someone that knows what they're doing.
As I said in a previous post the primary issues is contact problems, and it's relatively easily solved by using piercing connections. Aluminum is far more ductile than copper and if the connection is solid it's just as good, if not slightly larger than a copper wire, and with a slightly lower ampacity due to the over all thermal load. It's basically an issue of cost. Personally I'd just use copper, I know it's electrically conductionwise better, and I think it's thermally conductivity is better as well.

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While aluminium does rapidly build up a layer of oxidation, that doesn't protect it definitely. It's still a great deal more reactive than copper, and less reliable for that reason. Combined with the other problems mentioned, it's really just the cheap and nasty way to do the job.

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Good riddance, ETO .

 

Not in a marine environment. And not when Aluminum is anodized, and corrosion isn't so much an issue considering there's a plastic coating over it in the first place. Also the primary reliability difference between aluminum and copper is contact points. If it's taken into design consideration properly (as it should be) it's just as reliable as copper. It's not used in home wiring anymore, but that's because someone cheap enough to want to pick aluminum over copper wiring is also going to be cheap on the labor and connectors and everything else. I think it's primary failing is solderability.

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Nigel;
FOR HV overhead AC lines a special cable, called aluminum cable, steel reinforced (ACSR) is used.

The main reason to employ it is due to the large tensile strength provided by such arrangement, which is a must-have feature, to maximize the spacing between towers.

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Natural laws have no pity.' -Robert Heinlein

 

Aluminium is used in overhead conductors because, weight for weight, aluminium is about 40% more conductive than copper, and cheaper to boot.

The only downside as everyone has mentioned is that it's harder to make electrical connections to, although solders do exist that can do that and ultrasonic soldering irons can also make good connections as well as simpler crimping techniques.

Probably it was just used in this motor for cost; but it would also possibly reduce the angular momentum and definitely reduce the weight.

FWIW calcium metal is even better (!)