Ronny wrote on Thu, 05 January 2006 17:45 |
Part 2: Fusion Technology; An extended explanation: Resulting from several years of research, our new Fusion Technology is a breakthrough in metal conductor technology. Our research led us to the conclusion that a number of important steps in the production process of metal conductors can be improved.
We found that:
The purity of the basic metals is essential. Any uncontrolled or unwanted impurity changes the signal transmission properties, such as the direction and/or speed of the information flow in the final conductor. Impurities also create undesired metal structures which interfere with specific properties of the pure metal.
The speed of the temperature reduction during the last step of the wire manufacturing (i.e. when the final conductor including its silver coating passes the last dye) has a high influence on the final audio properties. The steeper this temperature decay, the better: Too high temperatures for too long dramatically worsen the sonic result afterwards.
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Actually, the only "breakthrough" they've achieved here, is that at some point some idiot on the production floor forgot to turn on the annealing torches/oven after the final extrusion die.
In the production of metal wire, a large diameter "rod" of metal is drawn through a succession of dies, that gradually reduce the diameter until its down to the point that we'd call it a "wire" instead of calling it a "rod" The original rod, as supplied by metal foundries such as Alcoa, is typically something like 3/8" diameter, wound on a big spool. After passing through a number of extrusion dies (perhaps 6 or
, it is down to the desired gauge.
Now, when you extrude wire, it heats up tremendously at the spot of the deformation, and cools suddenly, resulting in a hardening of the metal.
So you end up with hardened copper. That's no big deal, except that it is brittle, and snaps very easily. The annealing process that follows softens the metal somewhat, so that the ductile properties of the metal improve (it gets more bendable).
If you're only worried about 10 foot lengths, that don't have to be coiled, you can leave off the annealing, but that REALLY DOESN'T do too much to improve the electrical characteristics. The conductivity is all about the purity, not the hardness!
So the gimmick here is that the wire doesn't bend, (and thus is much easier to break inadvertently).
In carbon steel, the hardening/tempering/annealing situation can result in a metal that changes its magnetic qualities, which would certainly change its electrical qualities!!! but in pure copper, which is not a compound element, no amount of futzing around with the crystalline structure will have an effect on the conductivity/signal transmission properties (unless, of course, you're adding lots of oxygen to the copper, by annealing in a high-oxygen atmosphere. Most wire extrusion/annealing equipment today uses a high-nitrogen "blanket" in the annealing ovens.
Wire...its not just for breakfast anymore.
dwoz