The manufacturing of copper-clad steel grounding electrodes primarily employs either electroplating or a cold-rolling/hot-drawing process; the core principle is achieving a metallurgical bond between the copper and the steel.
In the electroplating process, an ultrasonic cleaning step is incorporated to remove surface impurities from the steel rod, and a fully automated line with microcomputer-controlled current and voltage ensures the uniform adhesion of the copper coating.
High-quality low-carbon steel (with a carbon content of 0.10%–0.30%) serves as the base material. Through the manufacturing process, highly conductive electrolytic copper is evenly applied to the surface of the round steel to form a copper layer ranging from 0.25 mm to 0.5 mm in thickness (with a minimum thickness of ≥0.254 mm). Threaded sections are produced using a thread-rolling process to ensure bond strength.
