ETP Copper

Electrolytic tough pitch copper, C11000 — 99.90% copper with a trace of oxygen, the default busbar and sheet grade.

Electrolytic refining leaves 200 to 400 ppm of oxygen in the melt, which forms fine cuprous oxide particles. Electrically they cost nothing, so ETP meets 100% IACS. The catch appears in a reducing atmosphere: hydrogen diffuses in, reduces the oxide and forms steam at the grain boundaries, which cracks the metal. That is hydrogen embrittlement, and it is the one reason to specify oxygen-free C10200 instead.

Related terms

IACS
Oxygen-Free Copper
Hydrogen Embrittlement

Where this applies

copper-busbars, copper-sheets-strips

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