Ground wire material issue
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This post was last edited by Yu Qin on 2021-1-30 at 12:35. Can stainless steel be used for grounding straps?
The grounding specifications require galvanized round or flat steel; I think using stainless steel would work as well, provided that it can be welded firmly and meets the required overlap area
If you’re willing to spend money, you can use stainless steel as long as its cross-sectional area meets the requirements!
The price is high and the investment costs are substantial; design institutes would not design it this way – they follow the standards instead
This post was last edited by HaoLiangZhiLe on 2020-12-4 at 17:57. The electrical conductivity of stainless steel and carbon steel flat bars is roughly the same; if you can afford it, go for stainless steel. At the connection between the flat steel and the grounding electrode, there shall be no fewer than two welding points. For welding dissimilar materials, thermal fusion welding is recommended. After the grounding construction of carbon steel flat bars is completed, they are coated with asphalt for corrosion protection.
Stainless steel grounding electrodes are acceptable, with the cross-sectional area and grounding resistance specified in the standards serving as the key criteria for evaluation. As long as the resistance value meets the requirements, there’s no problem.
I also saw this a couple of days ago and was thinking about it exactly – electrical grounding standards require the use of galvanized materials, while stainless steel can be used for lightning protection grounding. Therefore, it’s not possible to discuss this in a unified manner. I’m not sure why stainless steel cannot be used in electrical applications; could it be due to differences in conductivity?
Perhaps when the standards were established back then, there was a large price difference between the two materials, and stainless steel was not easily available either. Moreover, these days everyone is required to act in accordance with laws and regulations; many people use those standards to determine what is right or wrong. However, it is also overlooked that some standards explicitly state that meeting a certain requirement is sufficient, encouraging the use of better alternative materials