Why would a PCB designer use thicker-than-normal copper for a PC board design?

When I sourcing PCB online, I found some of them are with heavy copper. Why would the designer use copper for PCB?

PCB Assembly, PCB Materials
October 27, 2023

Thicker copper is used on circuit boards that must carry a relatively large amount of current, in a small board area. PCB manufacturers can “plate up” or add more copper to the board, allowing greater current carrying capacity in the finished board.

In other words, the circuit board is “resisting” the tendency to burn up under high load.

Another trick that is often used, for example in PC power supplies, is to leave parts of the high-current traces exposed, so they can accumulate solder during the wave soldering process.

All that additional solder is a cheap & easy way to add metal to the board, increasing its ability to conduct greater current flows.

Oliver Smith

Oliver is an experienced electronics engineer skilled in PCB design, analog circuits, embedded systems, and prototyping. His deep knowledge spans schematic capture, firmware coding, simulation, layout, testing, and troubleshooting. Oliver excels at taking projects from concept to mass production using his electrical design talents and mechanical aptitude.

Oliver Smith

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