Research on flexible graphite-copper composited electrical
grounding material
Ruohan Gong*, Jiangjun Ruan, Yuanchao Hu, Yongcong Wu,Shuo Jin
School of Electrical Engineering, Wuhan University, No.8 South East Lake Load, Wuhan, China
Keywords: Grounding material, Corrosion problem, Skin
effect, Dynamic thermal stability.
Abstract
The metallic grounding material such as copper, steel and
alloys plating used in power system nowadays are facing lots
of problems such as corrosion, high maintenance cost and so
on. To solve these problems ˈ a new type of grounding
material—the flexible graphite-copper composited grounding
material (FGCG) was proposed and produced .The raw
materials include high purity graphite, copper, organic and
inorganic fibres, adhesive and so on. The framework consists
of copper and fibres, supported and held by graphite and
adhesive. Finally, a new grounding material is made with
hierarchical stranded structure, namely FGCG. The skin
effect of steel, copper and FGCG can be investigated by
electromagnetic analysis using finite element method (FEM)
in high frequency and low frequency situation respectively.
On this basis of heat source obtained by electromagnetic
analysis, the comparison of dynamic thermal stability
between traditional metallic material and FGCG is calculated
by coupled electromagnetic-thermal analysis. The result
indicates that the short circle current withstand capacity of
FGCG is much higher than traditional metallic material
because of smaller skin effect and high thermal capacity of
graphite.
1 Introduction
Equipment of power system should be grounded well to
decrease the number of lightning stroke trip and to ensure a
steady operation of power grid and personal safety. The best
grounding is the lowest resistance ground attainable, because
low resistance minimizes the voltage rise and the hazard to
life under fault conditions[1,2].Nowadays, most electrical
grounding system is made with metallic conductor, including
steel, copper, stainless steel and steel with alloy coating.
Copper is an almost ideal grounding material for a variety of
reasons: it is corrosion-resistant, high in electrical
conductivity and easy to connect by clamping or welding.
However, copper was rarely used in electrical grounding
system in China due to its high cost and poor storage. Steel
and steel with alloy coating accounts for a large proportion of
grounding materials.
The existing conventional metal materials are facing many
problems ˖corrosion, bad contact with soil because of its
high hardness, etc. The most serious problem that can’t be
solved perfectly is corrosion. Corrosion process are important
in the degradation of electrical power system. Underground
corrosion has a particularly wide range of uncertainty because
soil presents such a wide range of environments.
Concentrations of ions within the soil electrolyte vary over an
even wider range. To minimizes the cost of corrosion,
corrective measures being applied to relieve corrosion: the
most helpful measures against corrosion include the use of
galvanized steel rather than copper for grounding material,
sacrificial anodes are helpful for adding additional protection
where needed, underground copper should be tinned or
otherwise coated[3-6].
However, there is no effective solution to the problem of safe
grounding and corrosion protection at the same time because
the reaction of metallic material with environment is
unavoidable, especially in the saline-alkali soil or coastal area.
Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, a new
grounding material was proposed to avoid these technological
difficulties in this paper, which is so called flexible graphite-
copper composited electrical grounding material (FGCG). It
provides a novel way to the advance of grounding material in
electrical power system. Firstly, the grounding characteristics
of this new grounding material is described briefly and the
influences of electromagnetic characteristics of this grounding
material on impulse grounding resistance are analysed.
Secondly, finite element method is applied to simulate the
skin effect of high frequency lightning current and
dynamic thermal stability of steel, copper and FGCG. Finally,
the feasibility of applying FGCG in the electrical power
grounding system is analysed. The result shows that FGCG
can meet the demand of different grounding occasion[7-11].
2 Ingredients and Structure of FGCG
The raw material includes flake graphite of high purity(purity
ı95%), corrosion-resisting framework fibres which can be
chosen according to different requirements, conductive fibres
which can be chosen to adjust the whole electrical
conductivity of FGCG, adhesive which hold framework fibres
and graphite together.
The general preparation process of FGCG is as follows:
Firstly, expanded graphite is produced by natural flake
graphite by means of oxidation and acidification. Secondly, flake
f ake
fl
using the method of rolling, expanded graphite is compressed graphite
grap
a hite
into graphite paper. The sandwich structure consists of two oxidation
layers of graphite paper, evenly spaced framework fibres and acidification
adhesive which sticks two layers of paper together. Then cut
expanded
expanded
“the sandwich” into thin slims with same width, twist those graphite
grap
a hite
slims into graphite filament. In order to meet different
requirements, in the process of twisting, add different kinds of rolling

conductive fibre into the centre of the filament to produce conductive

condu
d ctive
graphite
grap
a hite framework
f amework
fr
composited filament. Finally, FGCG are woven by graphite paper
pap
a er fibers
f bers
fi
adhesive
adhesive fibers
f bers
fi
filament and composited filament according to the following
rules: interior is consists of paralleled distributed graphite
filament and composited filament, exterior is made of cross- cutting
woven graphite filament. The picture and flowchart of twisting

productive process are shown in Fig1 and Fig2. graphite

grap
a hite composited
composited
filament
f lament
fi filament
f lament
fi

weaving

FGCG
FGCG

Fig.2Flowchart of productive process of FGCG

The structure of FGCG can be consider to the bone-muscle-

(a) Arrangement of evenly spaced framework fibres
blood structure: inside framework fibre have the function of
bones, supporting the overall shape of FGCG; expanded
graphite have the function of muscle, which is the main body
of FGCG; adhesive play the role of blood to combine graphite
and fibre. The diameter of FCGC is determined by the
number and size of inner filaments which can be adjusted to
meet all kinds of demand, the example in later sections is
Ф28 FCGC which its interior is consists of 61 copper-
composited filaments, the diameter of copper fibre is 0.8mm.
The pictures and structural diagram of FGCG is as follows:

(b) Cutting into slims

(a) cross section (b) side view
Fig.3 Pictures of FGCG
inside graphite
copper outside graphite

(c) Rolled FGCG

Fig.1 Pictures of productive process of FGCG Fig.4 Structural diagram of FGCG
3 The characteristics of FGCG
3.1 Good electrical conductivity and withstand capacity of
surge current
By the method of measurement, the electrical resistivity of
FGCG was determined: the electrical resistivity of pure
graphite composited material which only made of graphite
filament is 3.25h10-5Ωm; the electrical resistivity of FGCG
is decided by the number of composited filament and
parameter of conductive fibre, the best case can reach 1.0h
10-6Ωm. Experiments shows that FGCG can work under the
surge of the 200kA,8/20μs lightning current and 10kA,1s
short-circuit current without structural and functional damage,
which indicate that FGCG can meet the demand of lightning
current and short-circuit fault current dispersing.
3.2 Reliable corrosion resistance
Graphite have excellent corrosion resistance owing to its
chemical stability, it almost not produce chemical reaction in
all kinds of acid, alkaline and saline soils. Framework fibre
and adhesive is made of corrosion-resisting material. Besides,
FGCG can work with all kinds of grounding resistance reduce
agents with no need to think of corrosion will shorten its
service life to Improve the effect of grounding resistance
reduction.
3.3 Good dynamic thermal and thermal shock resistance
As the main body of FGCG, graphite have excellent
properties of dynamic thermal and thermal shock resistance,
the resistivity decrease with the increase of temperature.
Experiments have shown that FCGC can work availably and
stably under the ambient temperature fluctuation between -
40ć to 200ć. It goes without saying that FCGC can be
applied to almost any region on earth, including high altitude
and high latitude region.
3.4 Fast construction speed, convenient transportation,
simple operation
The weight of FCGC is much lighter than steel and copper
because of the low density of graphite. Besides, due to the
flexibility of FCGC, it can be roll in the form of coils, which
is shown in Fig3. Because of above two reasons, the
construction and transportation of FCGC is much simpler and
more convenient than regular metallic grounding materials.
Furthermore, FCGC can have lower contact resistance with
soil because of its large diameter and ability to deform with
soil.
3.5 Low raw material price and processing cost
China has the world’s largest graphite deposits, more than
77% of the world’s reserves. On the contrary, China is lack of
the mineral deposits of copper and iron. The price
of raw graphite materials is much lower than metallic
materials. In addition, graphite is much cheaper to process
than metallic materials and the processing make no hurt to the
environment.
4 The grounding characteristic of FGCG
The electrical conductivity and permeability of grounding
material are the main parameter that affect the effect of
grounding resistance reducing. The power-frequency
grounding resistance of grounding grid is consists of three
resistances in series: the resistance of grounding gridǃthe
contact resistance between grounding grid and soil and the
resistance of soil. Of the three, the resistance of grounding is
too small to be significant because the resistivity of general
grounding material(about 10-8~10-5Ωm) is much less smaller
than the resistivity of general soil(about 10~103Ωm). Main
factors that affect the power-frequency grounding resistance
of grounding grid are the resistivity of soil and the shape of
grounding grid. By virtue of larger diameter of FGCG, in the
case of same shape, the grounding grid made of FGCG have
larger contact surface with soil and smaller contact resistance
which offers FGCG advantage in grounding resistance
reducing[12,13].
Take an typical 220kV transmission line tower grounding grid
as example, the effect of grounding resistance reducing of
FGCG, steel and copper under different soil condition was
discussed. The shape of grounding grid is a square with four
attached extension lines. The length of each side of square is
10m, the length of extension line is 25m, the cover depth of
grounding grid is 0.8m, as shown in Fig.5.
D
/
Fig.5 Schematic diagram of grounding grid
The main parameters of grounding materials are shown in
Table 1:
Electrical
Grounding Relative Diameter
Conductivity
materials permeability (mm)
(Ωm)
FGCG 1.0h10-6 1 28
Copper 1.75h10-8 1 10
Steel 1.75h10-7 636 10
Table 1: Parameters of grounding materials
The power-frequency grounding resistance of above
grounding grid under different soil conditions was calculated
respectively, the result is shown in Table 2:
Soil Grounding resistance
resistivity (Ω)
(Ωm) FGCG Steel Copper
50 0.884 0.950 0.942
100 1.765 1.892 1.883
200 3.526 3.775 3.766
400 7.049 7.540 7.532 (a) Picture of FGCG (b) 2-D model of FGCG
1000 17.619 18.837 18.829 Fig.6 2-D model of FGCG
2000 35.235 37.666 37.658
By means of observing the distribution of current density and
Table 2: Calculation result of grounding resistances calculating the resistance per unit length under different
frequencies, the skin effect of Ф28FGCG, Ф10 copper, Ф10
The calculation result shows that FGCG have advantages over steel was analyzed. The result was shown in Fig.7, Table.3
metallic grounding materials in power-frequency grounding and Table.4.
resistance reducing because of its larger diameter. Higher the
soil resistivity, bigger the advantage. The grounding
resistance reducing capability of FGCG can meet the
requirements of the grounding system.

5 The skin effect and dynamic thermal stability

of FGCG
Grounding grids in power system need to endure the impact (a) Current density of Ф10 steel (b) Current density of Ф10 copper
of high frequency lightning surge and short-circuit fault
current. Hence, it is significant to analysis the skin effect and
dynamic thermal stability of FGCG. The skin effect of steel,
copper and FGCG can be investigated by electromagnetic
analysis using finite element method (FEM) in high frequency
and low frequency situation respectively. On this basis of heat
source obtained by electromagnetic analysis, the comparison
of dynamic thermal stability between traditional metallic
material and FGCG is calculated by coupled electromagnetic-
thermal analysis. The result indicates that the short circle (c) Current density of Ф28 FGCG (d) Current density of Ф28 FGCG
current withstand capacity of FGCG is much higher than (copper only)
traditional metallic material because of smaller skin effect and Fig.7 Skin effect analysis result(10kA 100kHz)
high thermal capacity of graphite[14,15].
Frequency Ф28FGCG Ф10copper Ф10steel
5.1 Skin effect of different kinds of grounding materials (Ω) (Ω) (Ω)
DC 5.707h10-4 2.228h10-4 2.228h10-3
The Ф28FGCG analyzed in this paper consists of 61 paralled-
50 5.724h10-4 2.236h10-4 5.332h10-3
arranged copper-composited filaments and 24 cross-woven
graphite filament. The diameter of copper fibre is 0.8mm, 10k 1.167h10-3 8.968h10-4 7.366h10-2
distance between adjacent copper fibre is 3mm, the diameter 100k 2.0349h10-3 2.752h10-3 1.830h10-1
of the whole FGCG is 28mm. The picture and 2-D model for
electromagnetic-thermal analysis are shown in Fig.6. Table 3: Resistance per meter length under different
frequencies

Frequency Ф28FGCG Ф10copper Ф10steel

R50/ RDC 1.003 1.004 2.393
R10k/ RDC 2.045 4.025 33.061
R100k/ RDC 3.567 12.352 82.136

Table 4: Ratio of resistance per meter length under different

frequencies
 Due to skin effect, the current focus on the surface of
grounding conductor, which affects the effect of grounding
resistance reducing. According the simulation result, steel is
impacted the most by skin effect because of its high magnetic
permeability. The FGCG gain an edge over conventional
copper rod due to the reasonable distribution of the copper
fibre. The gap is widened substantially in high frequency case,
making FGCG has a great advantage in reducing the impulse
grounding resistance under large lightning current.
5.2 Dynamic thermal stability of grounding materials
The calculation results of electric power losses are brought
into thermal field analysis as the heat sources, analysis the
temperature distribution of grounding materials under 50Hz
10kA short-circuit current for 1s, thermal dissipation in such
short time is ignored, the ambient temperature is 25ć.
The thermodynamic parameters of grounding materials are
shown in Table 5:
Specific heat Thermal
Grounding capacity
Conductivity
materials
(J /(kg·ć)) (W/(m·K))
Graphite 710 129
Copper 390 397
Table 5: Thermodynamic Parameters of grounding materials
(a) Temperature distribution of copper (b) Temperature distribution of FGCG
Fig.8 Dynamic thermal stability analysis results
Graphite conducts heat and electricity well, besides, the
specific heat of graphite is much higher which makes it can
absorb a lot of heat during short-circuit, and protect the
copper fibre from overheating. The copper content in Ф28
FGCG is about 39% of Ф10 copper rod, however, the
temperature rise of Ф28 FGCG is much less than Ф10 copper
rod under the same circumstances. The hot spot of FGCG is [8] ANSI/IEEE Std 80-2000ˊ IEEE guide for safety in AC
about 53.6ć, the maximum rise of temperature under 50Hz
10kA 1s short-circuit current is about 28.6ć. The dynamic
thermal stability of FGCG can meets the requirements of the
grounding system.
6 Conclusion
This paper concerns the current problem of grounding
materials, especially the corrosion problem which has
historically been a hard problem to solve. In order to solve
these problem, a new type of grounding material—the
flexible graphite-copper composited grounding material
(FGCG) was presented. Take a specific model of FGCG as an
example, the grounding resistance reducing capability, skin
effect under high frequency current, dynamic thermal stability
of FGCG was analyzed by FEM. From these simulations, we
can draw several conclusions:
(1) The grounding reducing capability of FGCG is better than
conventional grounding rod because of its bigger dimension.
(2) Due to the reasonable arrangement of copper fibre, FGCG
has a great advantage in reducing the impulse grounding
resistance under large lightning current.
(3) Graphite can absorb a lot of heat during the short-circuit
fault because of its high specific heat capacity and thermal
conductivity. The dynamic thermal stability of FGCG can
meets the requirements of the grounding system.
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