Technical Comparison

The marketplace has seen many different manufacturers of zinc ribbon come and go. Most brand products, when installed did their job and provided a useful time period of protection to the structure as designed, however the key to the puzzle is the installation portion of the project. Many of the low cost brands are almost impossible to install due to the brittle nature of their zinc ribbon and the inability of the core to bond to the zinc. American Carbon identified this problen early on, especially in colder weather applications. Through extensive research and development (and by employing the help of the University of Wisconsin – Madison), American Carbon developed BADGERCORD.

Flexible Zinc Ribbon

BADGERCORD is a zinc ribbon anode available in all common sizes and with flexural properties that make it workable in nearly ANY environment. By utilizing a complex and proprietary manufacturing process, we have manipulated the elastic properties of the anode and provide a ribbon anode that is highly flexible (and redundantly flexible) in even the coldest work environments. BADGERCORD can be installed year round almost anywhere in the world. Below is a table of the bending diameters BADGERCORD is capable of. Through independent testing agencies, these results are as good as if not better than any other commercially available zinc ribbon on the market today.

Product Code Product Description Cross Section Bending Dia. (min) at 77oF, 25oC Bending Dia. (min) at 41oF, 5oC Bending Dia. (min) at -4oF, -20oC Multiple Bending around 300mm Mandrel
30-101 Super Size 1″ x 1-1/4″ (±0.08″) 25.4mm x 31.8mm (±2mm) 15.75″ 400mm 19.69″ 500mm 27.55″ 700mm NA
30-201 Plus Size 5/8″ x 7/8″ (±0.06″) 15.9mm x 22.2mm (±1.5mm) 3.93″ 100mm 9.84″ 250mm 9.84″ 250mm More than 10 bends
30-301** Standard Size 1/2″ x 9/16″ (±0.04″) 12.7mm x 14.3mm (±1mm) <3.93″ <100mm <3.93″ <100mm 5.91″ 150mm More than 10 bends
30-401** Small Size 11/32″ x 13/32″ (±0.04″) 8.7mm x 11.9mm (±1mm) <3.93″ <100mm <3.93″ <100mm <3.93″ <100mm More than 10 bends

Mandrel Bending

The bending results in this table were conducted by bending a 1 meter sample of ribbon around reducing diameter mandrels until failure or no smaller mandrel was available. For the multiple bending test, a 1 meter sample was repeatedly bent around a 300mm Mandrel at 41oF until failure. The result in the table above illustrates how many iterations before failure.

Another tool that can be used to evaluate the quality of the zinc ribbon is an analysis of the grain structure. Please read this pdf file to learn more about the grain structure of BADGERCORD Zinc Ribbon Scanning Electron Microscope results.

Core Bonding

Another point of failure for some zinc ribbon is bonding the core to the zinc ribbon.  This can be a bit misleading as depending on the method used to cut the zinc ribbon, it may appear as if the core is not fully bonded to the zinc – this is especially apparent when a bolt cutter is used to cut the ribbon.  American Carbon has done a great deal of testing to ensure our core is bonded to the ribbon.  In our testing we exposed a 1″ section of core in a 8″ section.  We then attached the zinc to a tensile strength testing machine.  We are able to repeatably sever the steel core before it slips or moves in the zinc.  This is proof positive that the zinc is well bonded both mechanically and electrically to the zinc.  In cases where directional drilling is required under roadways, BADGERCORD is an excellent option when pulling through high friction environments.