The aim of this paper was to attain defect free, pure copper castings with the highest possible electrical conductivity. In this connection, the effect of magnesium additives on the structure, the degree of undercooling (ΔTα = Tα-Tmin, where Tα – the equilibrium solidification temperature, Tmin – the minimum temperature at the beginning of solidification), electrical conductivity, and the oxygen concentration of pure copper castings have been studied. The two magnesium doses have been investigated; namely 0.1 wt.% and 0.2 wt.%. A thermal analysis was performed (using a type-S thermocouple) to determine the cooling curves. The degree of undercooling and recalescence were determined from the cooling and solidification curves, whereas the macrostructure characteristics were conducted based on a metallographic examination. It has been shown that the reaction of Mg causes solidification to transform from exogenous to endogenous. Finally, the results of electrical conductivity have been shown as well as the oxygen concentration for the used Mg additives.

The work presents experiment results from the area of copper casting technology and chosen examples of alloyed copper. At present,

copper casting technology is applied in many branches of industrial manufacturing, especially in the sector of construction,

communications, arms and power engineering. Alloyed copper, containing slight additions of different elements and having special

physio-chemical properties, is used in a special range of applications. Copper technology and alloyed copper analyses have been presented,

these materials being used for cast manufacturing for power engineering. The quality of casts has been assessed, based on their

microstructure analysis, chemical content and the cast properties. During the research, special deoxidizing and modifying agents were

applied for copper and chosen examples of alloyed copper; also exemplary samples were tested with the help of metallographic analysis,

electrical conductivity and gaseous impurities research.