The Eaton flyer on aluminum has been around for a while as have other Industry enticements. I replied to a thread on one of last years posts concerning acceptance of using aluminum wiring. Equipment aluminum bussing is a separate consideration as long as there are no flexing or acoustic constraints that degrade the interfacing connection integrity.
Texas Instruments developed Cu clad Al wiring for space flight vehicles and failed to get market acceptance. The main reason, Aluminum DOES NOT HAVE THE SAME MALEABILITY as copper. Heat and workhardened conditions are more of a concern in using smaller AWG conductors. The temperature cycling and creep due to cross-section expandability fails miserably in small conductor applications.
The aircraft industry tried aluminum for the same reason and rejected the many flaws Al has under vibration stress. As I mentioned before, I would not take a trip on an Al wired jetliner. The Government requires Spec 44 and 88 wiring using alloyed high strength copper and pays a pretty penny for having safe aircraft.
Until the metals industry can produce a copper flexible comparable alloy aluminum with compatible connecting terminations for reliable small AWG conductors in the commercial industry, is the day it will be accepted. Ben Jacks
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