Some lower priced iridium plugs have just enough iridium content to be marketed as iridium plugs. The price point of an iridium plug is usually equitable to its iridium content. However, when properly blended with other precious metals such as yttria, rhodium or platinum, you can enhance their advantages with the superior strength and hardness of iridium. Though better than platinum in these respects, it is very expensive, and at higher temperatures it oxidizes, thus rendering pure iridium as an expensively poor choice for spark plug construction. The strength, hardness and high melting point of iridium makes it very well suited for a fine wire plug and ultra long life spark plugs. However, increasingly strenuous engine conditions, and the creation of smaller electrodes and longer life plugs required harder and stronger metals. Iridium is 6x harder and 8x stronger than platinum, has a melting point 1,200°(F) higher, and conducts electricity better.įor many years, spark plug manufacturers favored platinum for their long life and performance plugs due to its high melting point. However, gold is also a very soft metal, therefore the gold alloy is mixed with harder metals, such as palladium, to form a premium fine wire performance plug with increased ignitability and durability. Gold is an excellent conductor of electricity, which makes it well suited for a performance plug. But as a general rule of thumb, all spark plugs utilize a copper core. Some plugs include a coating or pad of precious metals to extend plug life. A standard spark plug typically uses a nickel-alloy outer material fused to a copper core. "Copper spark plugs" is a term mistakenly used for a standard or traditional spark plug. Due to its soft nature and low melting point, using copper as an outer electrode material would result in a plug that lasted only minutes. Search for spark plugs by specifications and dimensionsĬopper is a great electrical conductor with low resistance.Īlmost all spark plugs use a copper cored center electrode to conduct the electricity, jump the gap, and promote heat dissipation. Various metal types are used by NGK for ground electrodes and center electrodes.
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