When i am solding my hobby kit( a AM radio), i drop the 8 ohm speaker on the fioor, surpise me the magnet in the speaker pick up the resistor lead. My question is, are they using metal to substitute on the copper lead to cut cost?
Components that are sealed in glass bodies, like small diodes need leads that have a low expansion coefficient to not crack the glass during manufacture and soldering.
But many other electronic components have had iron alloy leads for some time, rather than tinned copper. I think they conduct the heat of soldering less than copper leads, but are still an insignificant resistance in series with the component. The lead wires also have to be welded onto the metal end caps on the ceramic rod core of the resistor, so the alloy may be chosen to weld well. They are probably cheaper, too.
copper clad conductor possibly ?
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Copper is normally considered to be a metal - perhaps you mean "iron or steel".
Based on a quick test of some components on my workbench, resistors seem to have non-magnetic leads, while ceramic capacitors have magnetic leads (Our stores group does stock some components that are specifically described as "non-magnetic", since electronics in many of the experimental setups may be in fairly strong magnetic fields.)
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